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WHAT    IS 


HOMOEOPATHY? 


BY  WILLIAM  SHARP,  M.D.   "F.R.S, 


Sebenifc   (Ebiiton. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

F.    E.    BOERICKE, 

HAHNEMANN  PUBLISHING  HOUSE. 

1885. 


"  I  claim  that  liberty,  which  I  willing  vto*    .        „ 
jectB  of  difficulty,  to  put  forward  as  X .uch  thin"  '  ""  permissio".   «■*,  in  sub- 

>o  be  manifestly  fUse."  ***  th,n&s  as  War  to  be  probable,  until  proved 

Wilmam  IIarvky. 


WHAT  IS  HOMEOPATHY! 

"  Nihil,  tarn  honest  urn  aut  utile  a  Medico  eflici  potest  quin, 
atiquando  ab  invidis  vituperari  queat." 

GR02NEVELT. 

Nothing  can  be  done  by  the  Physician  so  honest  or  so  useful 
as  to  escape  the  censure  of  the  envious. 

Among  the  many  important  "topics  of  the  day,"  none, 
having  reference  to  this  life  only,  can  possess  higher  claims 
to  calm  inquiry  and  earnest  attention  than  the  various  re- 
sources which  are  available  to  mankind,  when  suffering  from 
bodily  disease — a  trial  which  few,  if  any,  at  all  times  escape. 

In  the  present  age  of  discovery  and  invention  it  would  be 
remarkable  if,  while  all  around  are  sailing  onward,  the 
physician  alone  was  becalmed ;  while  every  branch  of  art 
and  science  is  progressively  and  rapidly  improving,  the 
resources  of  medicine  remained  stationary.  But  this  has 
not  happened,  the  onward  wave  has  reached  the  healer's 
barque,  and  he  also  is  afloat  upon jthe  mighty  waters  of  na- 
tural science.  i  • 

There  are  indeed  many  who  would  stoutly  stand  upon  the 
"  old  paths,"  but  in  this  case  we  have  no  inspired  prophets  and 
apostles,  as  happily  we  have  in  an  affair  of  higher  moment, 
upon  whom  to  rest  as  upon  a  firm  foundation.  The  apin  ions 
of  mere  men,  however  venerable  by  age,  are  but  a  sandy 
base.  The  people  of  the  present  times  are  not  given  to  echo 
the  sentiments  of  a  master.  Nature's  laws  and  nature's  facts 
alone  are  able  to  stand  the  rigid  scrutiny  to  which  the  sen- 
timents of  men,  in  physical  science,  are  now  so  unreservedly 
exposed. 

Some  men's  minds,  under  such  an  apparently  unsettled 
and  disorderly  state  of  things,  become  sceptical  and  faith- 
less. This  arises  from  indolence;  they  will  not  give  them- 
selves the  necessary  trouble  to  investigate,  and  thus  they 
throw  truth  and  falsehood  overboard  together,  and  vain]  r 
try  to  rest  upon  a  negative.  But  to  the  more  active  and  in- 
dustrious mind  the  same  condition  is  stimulative  to  exertion. 
Truth  is  sought  after  with  earnestness,  and  when  found,  is 
embraced  with  satisfaction  and  delight, 

Among  the  medical  inquiries  of  the  day,  Homoeopathy, 
in  the  judgment  of  many,  is  the  most  important  which  has 
yet  appeared,  while  in  the  opinion  of  many  more  it  is  "the 
biggest  humbug  that  ever  was!"  It  is  proposed  to  consider,  in 
a  few  words,  what  Homoeopathy  is  not,  and  what  it  really  is. 


WHAT    IS    HOMCEOPATHY? 


u«ed  as  a  chronological  epoch  by  the  HinduT£  Z  *%  ''?lgn' 
06  years  before  the  Christian  Era  thl f  '  PvCed  about 
-hich  shews  that  the  fiXk^^Sfe0^ 

for'poi"een  h6ard  °''°,d  time  ia  U'e  world  that  poison  ts  the  remedy 

Hahnemann  observes  that  "the  author  of  rt,«  1,     1 

buted  to  HtrrocRATKs    ;,«  tbP  V  na,,mi'S  the  witi,1«'s  attri" 
-*a  ™  J^S,, ™    lit, °W^"P  remar^ble  words: 

produced,  and  by  similar  thi,  ?  •     thlnSs  dl8ease  is 

they  are  healed^ ?ther  d &"  f  7''  *°  ^  f"k' 
which  will  produce  a  Strau~when^doe?en  T*-  **"% 

remove  it  when  it  does  "  ""*  exlst>  W1" 

of   smcidal  mania  appears  sWiiW  ?r:       J£e  trea.tmen* 

opposite  rufeXhSdl       7"a  C°ntrariis   curant"r>'  Ae 

botb  of   AUrmnfhT    i   rr      "s  aPPeMS  ^at  the  principles 

author of  ttWaZ  /t//'";T//''/  are  re/0P.iz^d  b/the 
oiple  he  remark, I  1  confiri?ation  of  the  latter prin- 
j  remarks  that  the  same  substance  which  oc< 

t  m  *  .°r5;>ni»n.  translated  bv  Dudo-eon   n   ina 

t  Htppocrata,  Opera  Juno  Cornario  £2jSW£  PP-  87, 


occasions 


WHAT    IS    HOMOEOPATHY?  5 

strangury  will  also  sometimes  cure  it,  and  so  also  with  cough. 

And  further,  he  acutely  remarks,  that  warm  water,  which, 
when  drunk,  generally  excites  vomiting,  will  also  sometimes 
put  a  stop  to  it  by  removing  its  cause."  * 

Hahnemann  further  observes  that  "  later  physicians  have 
also  felt  and  expressed  the  truth  of  the  homoeopathic  method 
of  cure."  As  for  instance,  Boulduc,  Detharding,  Bertholon, 
Thoury,  Von  Storck,  and  especially  Stahl, — all  these  during 
the  eighteenth  century.  But  their  observations  were  slightly 
made,  and  produced  no  permanent  impression,  either  on 
their  own  minds  or  on  those  of  others.  We  are  indebted  to 
Hahnemann  for  the  full  discovery  and  development  of  the 
law,  and  for  forcing  it  with  sufficient  perseverance  upon  the 
attention  of  the  world. 

I  have  been  asked  if  Shakespeare  makes  any  allusion  to 
this  method  of  cure.  We  have  one  in  the  following  pas- 
sage : — 

"  In  poison  there  is  physic  ;  and  these  news, 
Having  been  well,  that  would  have  made  me  sick, 
.     Being  sick,  have  in  some  measure  made  me  well." 

Henry  IV.,  Part  2,  Act  1,  See.  1. 

2.  Homoeopathy  is  not  quackery.  The  essence  of  quackery 
is  secrecy.  The  individual  practising  it  pretends  to  the  pos- 
session of  some  valuable  remedy — a  nostrum — which  he  sells 
for  his  own  private  gain,  but  which  he  will  not  disclose  for  the 
public  good.  Homoeopathy  has  no  secrets — no  nostrum — it 
courts  inquiry,  it  entreats  medical  men  to  investigate  it. 
This  is  not  quackery. 

Homoeopathy,  in  its  present  form,  was  discovered  by  a 
regular  physician,  (Hahnemann,)  and  was  first  published  in 
the  leading  medical  journal  of  Europe,  (Hufeland's,)  in 
1796.  It  has  been  studied  and  adopted  by  several  thousands 
of  regularly  educated  and  qualified  practitioners,  some  of 
them  Professors  in  Universities,  and  others  leading  men  in 
their  profession,  who  urgently  call  upon  their  colleagues  to 
follow  their  example.  They  offer  every  facility  in  the  way 
of  instruction,  by  hospitals  and  dispensaries,  and  by  private 
information  which  it  is  in  their  power  to  give.  This  is  not 
quackery. 

Homoeopathy  is  no  field  for  the  St.  John  Longs  and  the 
Morsons — the  patent  medicine  venders.  The  unsettled,  un- 
satisfactory, and  unsuccessful  course  of  the  educated  phy- 
sician leads  his  patients  to  try  quacks  and  quackery,  whose 

*  Works  of  Hyppocrates,  translated  by  Francis  Adams,  LL.D.,  Sy- 
denham Society, — 1849.  •  Vol.  i.,  p.  77. 


WHAT    IS    HOMEOPATHY? 


means,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  are  verv  slmil,,.  ♦    i  • 

and  sometimes  more  succestfu       Not)L  ,  ? hls  own> 

tually  drive  awav  all  re  ,1  To   \  JN,othlng  v»nld  so  effec- 

ing  this  out  fully  and  fair  v  1 1 J  ?       a  mg'. and  the  can7- 
-eeess  which  c £&££  S  &&?£■  *"*  "  *"  ^ 

cufarHrrpofth Ufifss*  ,GJobuies  are  a  ^ 

?««  and  Sri^tXLd0w'Hiented^ 
is  in  no  way  dependent  n™nti,  •  '  •       Hom«opathv 

fill  practice     WeatocS  fa  7  T?T  for  ite  8U~ 
matter  of  convenience  "  acCldentel-  "»d  »  simply  a 

hot  s^sa  i  assets  :t  »  «*«*« 

with  a  long  walk  I  must  take  a  short  one  "'  This  fartf ^ 
curing  the  same— not  2&fe  c»W„«  /;/.«•  •  "  -ls  tk.sani,! 
The  remark  about  being  faS  ^  ^hv  "  ^  ^m- 

minded  of  the  conCver'b^  8/T5;  the/  ma>'  *  re- 

in  the  fourth  contn S^M ?m?~T?m*  "^  AriuS> 
and  o^ovmo?.  J'  difference  between  ^«rf«of 

Sa^WmJ!  t17  t0  S-et  th'S  matter  in  a  clear  light      «  Give  " 

Thl  ?     ameJent>  :md  the  cases  are  not  identical 
Jo t^rST, °i Zr?  °alled  —-ve Simate  is 

■sufficient  LSroyS1^?';;:^^;  ,tW°  T'  ^  *TnS  are 
given  by  mistake  foi  eaYomei  T Md  T'1""  !*  haS  bee" 
are  well  known  to  be  tl  ,  >.  •'•  i  e  s>'In.l,toms  »t  produces 
and  bowel  accom,nn,n?v'nifl;lmmiltl;,n  of  «>e  stomach 
in  the  words  of  T^      *  }  dlarfhaja  Wltl»  bloody  stools ;- 

^atall  .spare  man,  about  thirty,  suffering' from 


a  severe 


Medical  Jurisprudence.     Article  Com  Subl. 


WHAT    IS    HOMCEOPATHY  :  7 

attack  of  dysentery ; — his  countenance  much  distressed,  a 
great  many  stools  for  three  days  consisting  of  blood  and 
jelly-like  mucus,  with  considerable  pain  in  the  abdomen 
increased  by  pressure,  and  a  quick  pulse.  I  dissolved  one 
grain  of  corrosive  sublimate  in  half-an-ounce  of  water,  put 
four  drops  of  this  solution  into  two  drachms  of  dilute  alcohol, 
and  gave  him  six  drops  of  this  tincture  in  four  ounces  of 
water,  directing  him  to  take  a  dessert  spoonful  every  three 
hours  till  the  symptoms  abated.  He  immediately  improved, 
had  no  other  treatment,  and  in  three  days  he  was  quite 
well.  Here  the  symptoms  of  the  dysentery  were  like  those 
which  this  preparation  of  mercury  produces,  but  they  had 
not  been  occasioned  by  corrosive  sublimate,  therefore  it  was 
a  proper  remedy  on  the  principle  of  similia, — that  like  is  to 
be  treated  with  like. 

Every  one  knows,  that  the  Spanish  fly,  cantharides,  even 
when  only  applied  externally  in  the  form  of  a  blister,  very 
often  acts  injuriously  upon  the  bladder,  causing  strangury 
and  other  painful  symptoms  connected  with  that  organ.  I 
hold  in  my  hand  a  little  book  with  the  following  title — "  Tutus 
Cantharidum  in  Medicina  Usus  Internus,  per  Joannem 
Groenevelt,  M.D.,  e  Coll.  Med.  Lond.  Editio  Secunda.  lTOS." 
This  book  is  full  of  interesting  cases  of  strangury  and  other 
affections  of  the  bladder  very  successfully  treated  by  the 
internal  use  of  cantharides.  Here  is  a  special  case  of 
Homoeopathy, — of  like  curing  like — or  in  the  words  of  the 
old  translator  of  Hippocrates  already  quoted,  "  Velut  urinas 
stillicidium  idem  facit  si  not  sit,  et  si  sit  idem  sedat."  The 
drug  produces  the  complaint  if  not  there,  but  if  it  be  there, 
(arising  from  another  cause),  it  cures  it.  For  this  method 
of  treatment,  the  author  tells  us  in  his  preface  he  was  com- 
mitted  to  Newgate,  on  the  warrant  of  the  President  of  his 
own  College — The  Royal  College  of  Physicians  of  London — 
"  Charta  quadam  manibus  propriis  signata,  sigilloque  firmata 
me  sceleratorumcarceri  (Jyewgate  vulgo  dicto,)  make  praxens 
reum  asseverantes,  tradiderunt !"  This  happened  in  169-i — 
just  a  century  before  Hahnemann.  It  is  worthy  of  remark, 
before  quitting  Dr.  Greenfield,  that  the  dose  of  cantharides 
which  he  gave  was  such  as  to  oblige  him  to  give  camphor 
along  with  it,  as  an  antidote  to  correct  the  otherwise  aggra- 
vating effect  of  the  fly.  The  present  method  of  reducing 
the  dose,  which  we  owe  to  Hahnemann,  lias  enabled  me  to 
cure  similar  cases  of  diseased  bladder  without  the  addition 
of  the  camphor,  and  without  fear  of  aggravating  the  symp- 
toms. 

One  instance  more.     Belladonna,  when  swallowed  as  a 


WHAT    IS    IIOMCKOPATHY? 


S\rl?rdT?  S,Carlet  rash'  a  sore  tllro^  fever   head 
general,,  cure,   but  often  p^vt  ^3^ 

iefta^,d0CtHne  5  H^^^^SS 
o.  Homoeopathy  ^  7wtf  an  infinitesimal  rln^      tw     • 

arising  from  other  cause"'  MIMllar  lnfla™nation 

41" discovered^"  ^  Hom«0Pa%>  as  a  prin- 

satisled  f  o,  he  -,°X  S1V!y'  flT«h  many  t,0>  be»>8' 
best  mode  of  SKST?™""  *at.they  are  the  safest  ami 
that  tl e  .,  a,d™tenng  medicine.  No  one  will  deny 
3  the  pleasantest,  and  if  success  follow  their 


use,  w 
a 


le   ul.v  J^.n  *i  r      "»"«^,  aau  n  success   follow  their 


WHAT    IS    HOMOEOPATHY 


-? 


diet  and  regimen,  or  if  the  small  doses  afford  all  the  aid 
required,  why  should  patients  be  "  encumbered  with  assist- 
ance," or  their  recovery  be  retarded  or  jeopardized  by  the 
unwieldy  and  often  injurious  interference  of  large  doses  of 
poisonous  drugs  ?  Why  has  it  so  often  been  said  that  "  the 
remedy  proved  worse  than  the  disease  ?" 

6.  Homoeopathy  is  not  a  "humbug."  Neither  are  those 
who  profess  it  "  knaves  or  fools,  swindlers  or  donkeys."  Were 
the  matter  a  piece  of  deceit,  it  is  not  likely  to  have  had  the 
steady  success  which  its  opponents  are  constrained  to  ac- 
knowledge attends  its  practice.  A  short  time,  at  any  rate, 
would  expose  its  fallacy.  An  ingenious  and  plausible  ad- 
vocate might  make  an  hypothesis  popular,  but  he  could 
never  obtain  extensive  belief  in  the  statement  of  a  suprjosed 
fact  which  every  day's  observation  proved  to  be  untrue.  As 
to  the  hard  names,  they  are  no  arguments,  and  therefore 
must  remain  unanswered,  except  by  the  observation  that 
they  generally  betray  a  weak  cause  on  the  side  of  those  who 
use  them.  Men  conscious  of  integrity  can  afford  to  despise 
them.  We  are  forbidden,  and  feel  no  inclination  to  return 
railing  for  railing;  what  we  wish  is  that  our  medical  brethren 
would  study  our  science,  and  instead  of  abusing  us,  help 
us  to  improve  it,  for  the  benefit  of  our  own  and  future  gene- 
rations. When  any  one  speaks  disrespectfully  of  things  of 
which  he  is  ignorant,  he  may  be  very  fitly  rebuked,  as  Dr. 
Halley  was  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton  : — "/  have  studied  these 
tilings — you  have  not. 

7.  Homceopathy  is  a  general  fact, — a  "principle, — a  law 
of  nature. — All  nature  is  exquisitely  arranged  and  governed 
by  perfect  laws, — the  result  of  infinite  wisdom  and  almighty 
power.  The  discovery  of  these  general  facts  has  marked 
epochs  in  the  annals  of  mankind.  What  consequences  have 
followed  the  discovery  that  a  magnetized  steel  bar,  when 
free  to  move  horizontally,  always  turns  one  of  its  extremi- 
ties towards  the  north  pole  of  the  earth,  as  is  seen  in  the 
mariner's  compass  ?  And  what  will  follow  from  the  further 
fact,  so  recently  discovered  by  (Eersted,  that  when  this  bar 
is  surrounded  by  a  current  of  electricity,  its  direction  is 
altered,  at  will,  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,  as  is  seen 
in  the  electric  telegraph  ?  Who  attempts  to  explain  or  to 
ridicule  these  things  ?  They  are  Facts.  Newton  discovered 
that  the  force  of  gravity  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  mass 
of  matter  in  the  attracting  bodies  and  in  inverse  proportion 
to  the  square  of  their  distances.  Doubtless  many  other 
proportions  are  possible,  but  this  is  the  one  fixed  upon  by 
the   wisdom   of  the  Great  GOD.     Dalton   discovered   that 

1* 


10 

the  elements  of  matter,  when  combining  chemically  with 
each  other,  always  do  so  in  certain  fixed  proportions ; — for 
example,  oxygen  combines  with  hydrogen  in  the  proportion 
of  eight  parts  by  weight  to  one  ;  this  is  an  interesting  par- 
ticular fact,  but  it  becomes  much  more  important  when  it 
is  known  to  be  a  general  fact,  that  oxygen  will  combine  in 
the  same  proportion  of  eight  parts  by  weight  with  a  fixed 
weight  of  every  other  element;  as  with  six  of  carbon,  six- 
teen of  sulphur,  fifteen  of  phosphorus,  thirty-five  of  chlo- 
rine, twenty-seven  of  iron,  thirty-one  of  copper,  &c,  and 
these  likewise  with  each  other  in  the  same  proportions  in 
which  they  combine  with  oxygen ;  as  thirty-five  of  chlorine 
with  one  of  hydrogen,  twenty-seven  of  iron,  thirty-one  of 
copper,  &c.  &c.  Here  is  a  law  of  nature,  absolutely  un- 
alterable by  us,  and  yet  it  is  most  evident  that  these  pro- 
portions of  combinations  might  have  been  very  different; — 
they  are  so  arranged  by  infinite  wisdom — we  cannot  ex- 
plain why — shall  vie  ridicule  the  arrangement  f  So  we  can 
imagine  many  laws  of  healing,  but  our  business  is  to  dis- 
cover, if  possible,  the  actual  one.  The  evidence  in  favor 
of  similia  similibus  curantur  is  already  great,  and  is  in- 
creasing daily.  It  claims  to  be  received  as  a  general  fact 
unless  it  can  be  set  aside  by  good  evidence  to  the  contrary. 
Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  ordinary  medicine  is  without 
a  rule,  and  even,  as  contended  for  by  the  present  President 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  "incapable"  of  receiv- 
ing one.  It  is,  consequently,  in  the  condition  of  ships  be- 
fore the  discovery  of  the  mariner's  compass.  If  then  a  rule 
be  found,  how  great  must  be  its  value !  It  is  not  possible  to 
over-rate  the  value  of  a  well-founded  principle  in  any 
branch  of  science,  for  ''principles  built  upon  the  unerring 
foundation  of  observations  and  experiments,  must  neces- 
sarily stand  good,  till  the  dissolution  of  nature  itself."* 

8.  Homoeopathy  is  a  practiced  fact.  It  is  not  a  specula- 
tive theory  to  be  reasoned  upon  in  the  closet,  but  a  fact  to 
be  observed  at  the  bedside  ;  it  is  no  metaphysical  subject, 
to  l)e  logically  shown  by  a  priori  reasoning  to  be  absurd; 
it  is  no  piece  of  presumption  and  impudence  to  be  put 
down  "by  authority,"  as  the  council  of  our  Royal  College 
of  Surgeons  happily  acknowledges;  it  is  a  fact  to  be  ex- 
amined, like  the  statement  of  any  other  fact,  upon  evidence. 
AVe  are  not  called  upon  to  sit  down  and  imagine  its  possi- 
bility, or  its  impossibility,  but  we  are  urgently  pressed  to 
observe  whether  it  be  true  or  not.     Hundreds  of  credible 

*  Emerson,  in  Newton's  Principia,  vol.  3,  p.  86/ 


WHAT    IS    HOMOEOPATHY?  11 

witnesses  tell  us  that  all  curable  diseases  are,  for  the  most 
part,  readily  cured  by  the  new  method.  This  is  asserted  as 
a  fact.  Is  it  true?  This  is  the  question.  Try  the  medi- 
cines— Why  should  you  not  ?  The  interests  oi  humanity  re- 
quire it.  If  they  succeed,  it  is  a  great  blessing;  if  they 
fail,  publish  the  failures.  This  is  the  only  fair  and  honest 
way  to  oppose  Homoeopathy,  and  in  no  other  way  is  it  likely 
to  be  opposed  with  success. 

9.  Homoeopathy  stands  upon  its  comparative  merits.  This 
must  be  the  test  of  all  methods  of  treating  disease.  There 
is  no  absolute  preservation  from  suffering  in  a  sinful  world, 
nor  any  deliverance  from  death.  "There  is  no  discharge 
in  that  war."  And  as  all  generations  have  died  under  the 
old  method,  so,  should  the  new  one  prevail,  all  generations 
will  continue  to  die  under  it.  This  consideration  should 
render  disputants  on  both  sides  sober-minded.  Medical 
men  are  engaged  in  an  unequal  contest;  the  great  enemy 
will  always  conquer  at  last ;  but  the  question  is  a  fair  and 
a  rational  one,  from  which  class  of  means  do  we  actually 
obtain  the  greatest  amount  of  relief  from  bodily  suffering, 
and  by  which  is  the  apparent  approach  of  death  most  fre- 
quently warded  off?  This  reduces  the  whole  matter  to 
what  would  seem  to  be  its  proper  shape — a  practical  ques- 
tion— What  will  do  me  most  good  when  I  am  ill  ? 

10.  The  old  method  is  unsatisfactory.  This  is  admitted 
by  almost  all  medical  authorities.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
bring  forward  quotations  in  support  of  this  statement;  they 
might  be  had  in  abundance,  but  the  fact  is  so  notorious 
that  the  differing  of  doctors  has  become  a  proverb ;  in 
short,  there  is  no  opposition  cf  sentiment,  or  of  practice, 
too  great  not  to  be  frequently  met  with.  I  well  remember 
the  reply  made  to  me  by  an  eminent  and  old  practitioner 
when  I  was  a  pupil — who  saw  the  distress  I  was  in  on  per- 
ceiving the  uncertain  condition  of  medical  knowledge — 
"  If  there  be  nothing  true  in  medicine,  there  is  in  surgery, 
so  you  must  give  your  mind  to  that  /"  The  old  medicine 
is  in  the  condition  that  astronomy  was  in  before  Newton, 
and  in  a  worse  condition  than  chemistry  was  in  before 
Dalton  ;  many  valuable  isolated  facts  known,  but  no  golden 
thread,  no  law  of  nature  discovered,  by  which  a  host  of 
conflicting  conjectures  might  be  dissipated,  and  facts  re- 
duced to  an  intelligible  order. 

11.  Homoeopathy  is  simple  and  intelligible.  However 
absurd  the  rule  may  appear  to  some,  it  is  practically,  a 
plain  one,  and  becomes  to  those  who  follow  it,  more  easy 
and  more  satisfactory,  every  day.     It  is  not  pretended  that 


12 

WHAT    IS    HOMOEOPATHY  ? 


lities  of  the  moon's  motions  worJ"ng  out  the  mequa- 

stitnted  in  two  w^s-bv X  stSsties  nt^T  °m  be  in- 
ane! by  those  oonJerJloZtl^^tCi^f^^ 
it  long  enough  to  be  able  tn  ,J,  t"dctl.c?  who  have  tried 
results  in  tlfeir  own  hands  of  S,!/  W1*h  Th  other  th^ 
illustration  of  the  fonTrmode  f^coTparist't  A  "" 
mg  abstract  drawn    from    Dr    JW  ?vP    f  ? '  -the  iollow- 

"Fallaciesof  Homffiopa%/fma"lvf„a!!!tlCS'  (in  the 
H„„mc  TREAT=  ___,__.  Tmatment 

pneumonia 57  Deaths  percent. 

-rleuritis    ......       3  24. 

Peritonitis      ...          .4  '""•••••  13. 

Dysentery      .     .                       3"  13. 

All  Diseases       .     .                 4  4               22. 

^A^^^  «,as  an  £J* 

to  receive  cases^ndisc rimlnately  a,  thTno  ^  fitted  UP 
a  Homoeopathic  hospital  but fn&!S  "  e>  .OC0l»-red ;  one  was 
Allopathic  physician,  Til  "tl  .the, lnsPection  of  ^o 
epidemic  haPd  ^^J^^fi****  «- 

***£££?  *"*«■      *-*  i-St  H0spita, 
theTZlSdS  reC°Vered  !n  the  ™>  «i  twoSs  died  in 

and    the    proportion   of   recoveries   m  1«     u      attacked> 
treatment^  t Wfou^C  enTitre?Cs^S 

8J7  071  -L'lea. 

T.  546 

Inose  treated  Homoeopathically 
236  C""fkd'  Died. 


179  57 


Mortality  under  Horn.  Treatment  r 

25  per-cent.  &en.*ral  Mortality. 

Whpn     it.    +1^  b6  P^-cent. 

25 "e^ent.        atment'  Ge"/Rral  Mortality. 

#  s : ■ __ _ 46  per-cent. 

B.Wiiedee,M.^1kkn0W"  b°^1^™^^^^^ 


WHAT    IS    IIOMCEOPATHY?  13 

It  will  be  understood  that  if  the  eases  treated  by  the 
new  method  had  been  deducted  from  the  entire  cases  in 
Edinburgh  and  Liverpool,  the  per-centage  of  deaths  under 
allopathy  would  have  been  greater  than  that  stated  as  the 
general  mortality. 

When,  in  1853,  the  Cholera  broke  out  with  alarming 
suddenness,  and  with  more  than  its  usual  virulence,  in 
Newcastle,  the  mortality  during  September  and  the  early 
part  of  October  reached  1,500.  Dr.  Hayle  has  kindly  in- 
formed me  that  he  and  Mr.  Elliot  treated,  during  these  few 
weeks,  81  cases  of  Cholera  and  lost  16,  being  a  mortality 
of  20  per-cent.  or  one-fifth,  while  it  is  believed  that  the 
general  mortality  considerably  exceeded  50  per-cent.,  or 
more  than  one-half  of  the  persons  attacked.  A  large 
number  of  deaths  took  place  from  Diarrhoea.  Dr.  Hayle 
and  Mr.  Elliot  treated  280  cases  of  Diarrhoea  without  one 
death.  The  Royal  College  of  Physicians  has  repeatedly 
stated  that  it  is  in  this  stage  of  Cholera  that  treatment  is 
successful,  and  that  if  it  be  neglected  the  case  often  ter- 
minates fatally.  If  these  280  cases  had  no  efficient  treat- 
ment, how  is  it  that  they  all  recovered  f 

The  second  mode  of  comparison  rests  in  the  bosom  of 
each  private  practitioner.  Thus  much  however  may  be 
stated,  so  far  as  I  am  at  present  informed,  every  practitioner 
who  has,  with  sufficient  care  and  perseverance,  studied 
Homoeopathy,  has  embraced  it ;  and  I  have  not  yet  heard 
of  one  who  has  deserted  its  ranks  because  he  has  been  dis- 
appointed as  to  the  efficacy  and  superiority  of  this  mode  of 
treatment.  For  myself,  I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that, 
having  practiced  the  old  method  for  many  years  with  suc- 
cess, and  having  now  devoted  myself  for  some  time  to  the 
new  mode,  while  I  at  once  acknowledge  that  the  study  is 
laborious  and  not  without  its  difficulties,  I  am  persuaded 
that  it  is  a  change  for  the  better,  and  I  venture  to  engage 
that  if  my  medical  brethren  will  try  such  plants  as  the 
following,  prepared  as  we  now  use  them,  in  the  <  ases  for 
which  they  are  indicated  by  the  law  ot  similia,  they  will 
be  greatly  surprized  and  gratified  by  their  beneficial  ef- 
fects:— 

Aconitum  Napellus,  Atropa  Belladonna, 

Bryonia  Alba,  Arnica  Montana, 

.Matricaria  Chamomilla,  Pulsatilla  Pratensis, 

Ipecacuanha*  Nux  Vomica,  &c,  &c. 

13.  Homoeopathy  is  medical  treatment.  It  is  not  the 
do-nothing  system  which  it  is  represented  to  be  by  opponents 
who  thus  only  betray  their  ignorance.      When  fever  ai 


14  WHAT  IS  HOMCEOPATHY  ? 

dysentery  were  desolating  many  parts  of  Ireland  in  1847,  one 
of  the  places  which  suffered  most  was  Bantry,  near  Skib- 
bereen,  in  the  county  of  Cork.  During  ten  weeks  one 
hundred  and  ninety-two  cases  were  treated  homceopathically 
by  Mr.  Kidd,  at  their  own  homes,  amid  all  the  wretchedness 
of  famine  ;  the  mortality  from  fever  was  less  than  two  per- 
cent,, and  from  dysentery  fourteen  per-cent.  During  the 
same  period  many  were  treated  on  the  old  method  in  the 
Bantry  Union  Hospital,  with  the  advantages  of  proper  ven- 
tilation, attendance,  nourishment,  &c.,  and  from  the  report 
of  Dr.  Abraham  Tuckey,  the  physician,  the  mortality  from 
fever  was  more  than  thirteen  per-cent.,  and  from  dysentery 
thirty-six  per-cent. 

At  the  same  time  another  Fever  Hospital  was  opened  for 
similar  cases  occurring  among  the  emigrants  from  Ireland 
to  this  country,  in  which  the  medical  man  tells  us  he 
abstained  from  all  interference,  and  remained  passively 
watching  the  cases,  ordering  them  free  ventilation,  cleanli- 
ness and  confinement  to  bed ;  water,  or  milk  and  water, 
being  given  as  drinks.  He  congratulates  himself  upon  the 
success  attendant  upon  thus  allowing  the  cases  to  take  their 
natural  course,  Undisturbed  by  medicine ;  the  deaths  from 
fever  in  this  hospital  were  ten  per-cent.  We  have  here, 
therefore,  an  opportunity  of  comparing  together  the  results 
of  the  three  methods  ; — the  ordinary  system  of  medicine,  no 
medicine  at  all,  and  the  homoeopathic  medicine.  The  deaths 
from  fever  are  thus  reported : — under  ordinary  medicine, 
above  thirteen  per-cent. — under  no  medicine  at  all,  ten  per- 
cent. ;  under  homoeopathic  medicine,  less  than  two  per-cent. ; 
a  sufficient  proof  that  that  is  doing  something  and  gaining 
by  it ;  while  by  the  same  comparison,  giving  large  doses  of 
medicines  is  doing  something  indeed,  but  losing  by  it. 

14.  Homoeopathy  is  a  practical  guide.  It  is  not  like 
Hydropathy,  a  single  remedy  to  be  applied  in  the  treatment 
of  every  disease ;  it  is  a  guide  or  rule  to  direct  us  in  the 
use  of  all  remedies.  The  medical  practitioner  who,  for 
years,  has  felt  and  mourned  over  the  bewildered  condition 
of  his  professional  knowledge, — the  contradictions  of  his 
theories,  and  the  uncertainty  of  his  facts,  is  the  only  person 
who  can  fully  appreciate  the  value  of  any  principle  capable 
of  affording  him  a  light  to  guide  his  path.  Few  intelligent 
persons  however,  can  have  failed  to  discover,  from  their 
intercourse  with  physicians,  that  ordinary  medicine  is  in  an 
unsettled  and  benighted  condition.  It  has  many  valuable 
facts,  it  has  many  excellent  remedies ;  but  the  facts  are 
isolated,  or  connected  only  by  false   hypotheses,  and  the 


WHAT  IS  HOMOEOPATHY  ?  15 

remedies  are  made  use  of  in  such  a  vague  manner,  and  in 
such  destructive  doses,  that  the  value  of  the  one,  and  the 
excellence  of  the  other,  are  either  greatly  impaired  or  con- 
verted into  injuries. 

15.  Homoeopathy  is  a  guide  in  the  choice  of  the  rnedAcim  , 
not  of  the  dose.  The  dose  is,  as  yet,  a  question  of  experience. 
The  law  of  similia  is  an  admirable  guide  in  the  selection 
of  an  appropriate  remedy  in  any  case  of  disease ;  hut  the 
only  information  it  affords  in  the  choice  of  the  dose  is  this, 
that  it  must  be  a  smaller  one  than  would  he  sufficient  to 
produce  similar  symptoms  in  health.  How  small  a  dose 
this  is,  must  be  ascertained  by  trial,  until  some  general 
fact  or  law  can  happily  be  discovered,  which  shall  constitute 
a  guide  to  the  dose,  as  the  law  of  similia  does  to  the  medi- 
cine. I  venture  to  entertain  a  sanguine  hope  that  this  will 
be  accomplished. 

16.  Homoeopathy  aims  at  eradicating,  or  permanently 
curing  the  disease,  wherever  this  is  possible,  not  merely  at 
affording  palliative  relief.  This  constitutes  another  great 
feature  of  the  new  method,  and  again  points  out,  in  a  strik- 
ing manner,  its  superiority  over  the  old  mode.  If  the 
symptoms  of  an  ailment  are  cured  by  the  operation  of  the 
remedy  upon  the  constitution,  the  cause  of  those  symptoms, 
or  the  pathological  condition,  is,  in  all  probability,  perma- 
nently removed.  In  seeking  to  effect  this,  no  other  mischief 
is  occasioned.  How  often  has  not  this  case  occurred, — a 
patient  in  suffering  from  cough,  medicines  called  expec- 
torants are  prescribed  ;  at  the  next  visit  the  cough  is  some- 
what relieved,  but  the  expectorants  have  unfortunately 
produced  nausea,  and  the  appetite  is  gone ;  mineral-acids 
are  ordered  to  improve  the  tone  of  the  stomach,  and  to 
restore  appetite  ;  at  the  following  visit,  the  appetite  is  better, 
but  the  acid  has  irritated  the  mucous  membrane  of  the 
bowels,  and  has  produced  diarrhoea ;  to  check  this,  astrin- 
gents must  be  given,  which  have  occasioned,  by  the  time  of 
the  next  visit,  a  return  or  aggravation  of  the  cough,  and 
thus  the  round  has  to  be  re-commenced.  Who  does  not  see 
that  there  is  room  for  improvement  in  such  a  system  ?  But 
the  greatest  of  all  difficulties  of  the  old  mode  of  treatment 
is  this, — to  decide  the  point  whether  depleting  and  lowering 
measures,  antiphlogistic*,  as  they  are  called,  are  indicated. 
or  the  opposite  remedies,  stimulants  and  tonics.  The  most 
eminent  and  experienced  practitioners  not  unfrequently 
differ  in  their  opinions  upon  this  important  point,  even 
when,  humanly  speaking,  the  life  of  the  patient  hangs  upon 
the  decision.     Now  this  acknowledged  and  grave  difficulty 


16  WHAT  IS  HOMCEOPATIIY  ? 

is  greatly  mitigated,  if  not  entirely  removed,  under  the  new- 
method  ;  the  group  of  symptoms  has  to  be  taken,  and  a 
similar  group  found,  belonging  to  any  remedy ;  that  is  the 
remedy  most  likely  to  be  useful,  by  whatever  name  it  has 
been  usual  to  designate  it. 

17.  Homoeopathy  economizes  the  vital  powers.  It  does 
not,  like  bleeding,  and  purging,  and  salivating,  and  sweating, 
draw  largely  upon  the  remaining  strength  of  the  patient, 
already  j)erhaps  greatly  reduced  by  his  sufferings.  Homoeo- 
pathy lets  well  alone.  Its  medicines  act  only  upon  the 
diseased  organ.  If  the  head  be  sick,  it  does  not  add  to  this 
sickness,  a  conrplaint  in  the  intestines,  which  strong  purga- 
tives must  do ;  if  the  lungs  be  inflamed,  it  does  not  also 
Bring  on  an  inflammation  in  the  skin,  wdiich  a  blister  does. 
The  beneficial  consequence  of  this  method  is  conspicuous 
in  the  speedy  return  of  the  patient  to  his  accustomecl  health 
and  occupation.  When  the  acute  disease  is  removed,  which 
it  often  is  in  an  unusually  short  space  of  time,  the  patient 
is  well ;  he  has  no  tedious  convalescence,  requiring  wine  and 
bark. 

18.  Homoeopathy  is  gentle  and  agreeable.  If  the  new 
mode  of  treatment  be  found,  on  trial,  to  be  only  as  efficacious 
as  the  old  one,  it  ought  to  be  preferred  on  account  of  its 
gentleness  and  jdeasantness ;  how  much  more  if  it  succeed 
better.  The  action  of  the  medicines,  in  point  of  fact,  is 
found  to  be  such  as  to  supersede  the  necessity  for  the 
severe  measures  and  nauseous  doses  hitherto  had  recourse 
to.  The  medicines  are  tasteless,  or  nearly  so,  themselves, 
and  they  do  not  need  the  aid  of  such  formidable  adjuncts 
as  bleeding,  and  blistering,  and  setons,  and  issues,  and 
cauterizations,  and  moxas.  Already,  indeed,  the  beneficial 
influence  of  Homoeopathy  in  this  respect,  upon  general 
practice,  has  been  greatly  felt.  In  the  year  1827,  I  attended 
the  military  hospital  in  Paris,  which  was  in  charge  of 
Barox  Lajrrey,  Senior  Surgeon  to  the  Army  of  Napoleon. 
At  every  morning's  visit,  he  had,  among  his  numerous  at- 
tendants, two  "  internes"  or,  as  they  are  called  at  the  London 
Hospitals,  dressers,  accoutred  in  this  manner ; — one  carried 
a  small  chafing  dish  with  fire  in  it,  and  the  other,  a  box 
containing  a  number  of  actual  cauteries,  (irons  like  small 
pokers,) *  and  a  pair  of  bellows.  As  we  passed  from  bed 
to  bed,  one  or  more  of  the  suffering  occupants  were  sure  to 
be  ordered  the  cautery,  when  one  of  the  irons  was  imme- 
diately jdaced  in  the  chafing  dish,  the  bellows  wrere  applied, 


*  See  a  representation  of  these  in  another  of  these  Tracts. 


WHAT  IS  HOMOEOPATHY  ?  17 

and  as  soon  as  the  instrument  was  brilliantly  red  hot,  the 
Baron  would  take  it  in  his  hand,  and  deliberately  draw  two 
or  three  lines  on  the  flesh  of  the  patient,  very  like  the  broad 
arrow  with  which  most  of  ns  are  familiar,  made  by  the 
ordnance  surveyors,  on  our  houses  and  pavement  during 
their  late  labors  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Now,  surely, 
to  see  banished  for  ever,  not  only  such  painful  methods  as 
this,  but  every  thing  which  approaches  to  it,  must  be  a 
consummation  to  be  wished  for. 

19.  Homoeopathy  administers  one  medicine  at  a  time. 
This  is  another  great  improvement.  How  was  it  possible  ever 
to  attain  to  satisfactory  knowledge  of  the  powers  and  pro- 
perties of  any  drug,  so  long  as  several  were  always  combined 
together  when  given  to  a  patient?  In  the  days  of  Sydenham, 
the  father  of  English  medicine,  sixty  or  eighty  medicines 
were  mixed  together  in  the  favorite  prescriptions ;  this 
number  has  been  greatly  reduced  since  the  time  of  Syden- 
ham, but,  so  long  as  two  medicines  are  given  together,  it  is 
impossible  to  ascertain  with  accuracy  the  effects  of  either. 

20.  The  Homceoijathic  Physician  learns  the  properties  of 
drugs  by  experiments  upon  himself  \  not  upon  his  patients. 
That  the  contrary  has  been  the  plan  hitherto  adopted  is 
notorious.  How  many  poor  people  have  been  deterred  from 
availing  themselves  of  the  aid  of  our  hospitals,  lest  they 
should  have  "experiences"  tried  upon  them! 

The  only  certain  way  of  learning  the  real  effects  of  drugs 
upon  man's  health  is  to  administer  them  experimentally  to 
healthy  persons.  None  have  thought  of  this  method,  so  far 
as  appears,  except  the  illustrious  Haller  and  Hahnemann  ; — 
none  have  attempted  to  carry  it  out  except  Hahnemann  and 
his  disciples. 

It  is  evident  that  the  properties  of  medicinal  substances 
must  be  ascertained  by  some  kind  of  experiment;  the  ques- 
tion in  dispute  is  this,  is  it  best  to  try  these  experiments 
upon  sick  persons,  or  npon  healthy  ones?  Shall  the  physi- 
cian get  his  knowledge  by  experimenting  upon  his  patients, 
<>r  a  on  himsi  Iff  The  practitioners  of  the  old  school  pursue 
the  former  method,  those  of  the  new  one  the  latter.  What 
•  Iocs  the  patient  say  ? 

21.  Homoeopathy  is  appUcabli  to  acute,  as  well  as  t<> 
chronic  <}isr<fxrs.  When  the  discovery  was  first  announced 
to  the  world  by  Hahnemann,  he  did  not  carry  its  application 
further  than  to  chronic  diseases, — to  ailments  continuing 
for  a  long  time.  And  the  impression  is  still  general  that 
such  treatment  may  possibly  avail  where  there  is  abundance 
of  tiiiu  j  but  what  i-s  to  be  done  in  cases  of  emergency? 


18  WHAT  IS  HOMCEOPATHY  ? 

Acute  disease  with  immediate  danger, — how  can  you  trust 
to  Homoeopathy  then  t  The  answer  to  this  grave  question, 
which  manifold  experience  gives,  as  indeed  may  be  partly 
gathered  from  the  statistics  of  Cholera  and  other  acute 
diseases,  given  in  the  preceding  pages,  is  this,  that  it  is 
able  to  grapple  with  the  most  dangerous  and  sudden  attacks 
of  disease,  more  successfully  than  any  other  known  method 
of  i/reat/mA  nt. 

22.  Homoeopathy  is  prepared  for  any  new  form  of  dis- 
ease far  better  than  the  old  method.  This  i'act  was  very 
strikingly  exhibited  on  the  appearance  of  Asiatic  Cholera 
in  Europe.  The  various  Colleges  of  Physicians  were  quite 
at  a  loss  to  know  how  to  deal  with  the  formidable  stranger ; 
and  when  called  upon,  in  their  respective  countries,  to  issue 
advice  and  directions,  nothing  could  be  more  painful  than 
the  visible  inconsistencies  and  unsatisfactoriness  of  their 
multiform  recommendations. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Homoeopathic  practitioners, 
whether  in  Russia  or  in  Austria,  in  France  or  in  England, 
found  the  true  remedies  without  co-operation  and  without 
difficulty,  and  they  proved  wonderfully  successful.  Hahne- 
mann himself  published  a  tract  pointing  out  the  proper 
treatment,  from  the  description  he  had  read  of  the  disease 
before  he  had  seen  a  case. 

This  point  was  with  Sydenham  a  great  source  of  per- 
plexity. "This  at  least,"  says  he,  "I  am  convined  of;  viz., 
that  epidemic  diseases  differ  from  one  another  like  north 
and  south,  and  that  the  remedy  which  would  cure  a  patient 
at  the  beginning  of  a  year,  will  kill  him,  perhaps,  at  the 
close.  Again,  that  when  once  by  good^  fortune,  I  have  hit 
upon  the  true  and  proper  line  of  practice  that  this  or  that 
fever  requires,  I  can,  (with  the  assistance  of  the  Almighty,) 
by  taking  my  aim  in  the  same  direction,  generally  succeed 
in  my  results.  This  lasts  until  the  first  form  of  epidemic 
become  extinct,  and  until  a  fresh  one  sets  in.  Then  1  am 
again  in  a  quandary,  and  am  puzzled  to  think  how^  I  can 
give  relief.  .  .  .  .  It  is  more  than  I  can  do  to  avoid 
risking  the  lives  of  one  or  two  of  the  first  who  apply  to 
me  as  patients."*  This  is  the  confession  of  a  man  entitled, 
for  his  truthfulness  and  genius,  to  the  highest  admiration. 
The  difficulty,  though  not  perhaps  always  so  frankly  acknow- 
ledged, has  been  always  felt  until  now ; — it  is  not  a  difficulty 
in  Homoeopathy. 

23.  Homoeopathy  carries  into  detail  what  all  medicine  is 

*  Works  of  Sydenham,  Vol-  i.  p.  33.     Sydenham  Society's  Edition. 


WHAT  IS  HOMOEOPATHY  ?  1  0 

in  the  general.  Medicines  are  not  food,  but  poisons  ; — not 
materials  which  of  themselves  can  preserve  or  produce 
health.  They  are  all  naturally  inimical  to  the  human  body, 
but  when  that  body  is  in  a  state  of  disease,  they  are  found, 
as  a  matter  of  experience,  sometimes  to  assist  in  restoring 
it  to  health. 

Medicine  in  the  general,  is  poison  to  the  healthy  frame 
of  man,  and  a  remedy  to  that  frame  when  sick;  this  is 
admitted  by  all,  and  this  is  Homoeopathy  in  the  general ; 
why  not  then  have  Homoeopathy  in  detail  ?  Why  not  first 
ascertain  what  symptoms  each  poison  produces,  when  taken 
in  health  ?  and  why  not  give  it  as  a  remedy  for  similar 
symptoms  in  natural  disease  ?  Medical  men  have  been  ex- 
perimenting in  the  treatment  of  disease  for  many  centuries, 
why  not  try  this  experiment?  Our  opponents  admit,  in 
general,  what  they  ridicule,  and  oppose,  when  carried  out, 
in  particulars.* 

24.  Finally,  Homoeopathy  relates  only  to  the  administrar 
tion  of  remedies,  and  detracts  nothing  from  the  value  of 
the  collateral  branches  of  the  science  of  medicine.  It 
leaves  Anatomy,  Physiology,  Chemistry,  &c,  unaffected. 
The  Homoeopathic  Physician  ought  to  be  as  accomplished 
in  these,  and  other  departments  of  knowledge,  as  his  fellow 
practitioner  of  the  old  school ;  and  he  is  more  likely  than 
the  other  to  turn  all  such  knowledge  to  the  beneficial 
account  of  his  patient. 

This  is  a  brief  exposition  of  the  leading  features  of 
Homoeopathy.  They  would  admit  of  being  much  more 
copiously  enlarged  upon,  but  the  aim  has  been  to  make  a 
few  points  so  clear  that  it  may  not  be  doubtful  what  we 
are  contending  for.  We  should  be  glad  to  be  fairly  imt 
with  facts  and  arguments,  but  in  the  place  of  these  we  have 
ridicule  and  abuse.  In  time,  perhaps,  the  tables  will  turn, 
and  then,  no  doubt,  Punch  will  find  it  much  more  easy  to 
satyrize  the  face  contorted  at  the  sight  of  the  "  Mack  draught" 
about  to  be  swallowed,  or  the  barber's  pole  and  bandage 
for  bleeding,  than  he  lias  hitherto  done  any  of  the  facta 
belonging  to  Homoeopathy. 

But  surely  any  proposal,  such  as  is  explained  in  the 
foregoing  pages,  even  if  there  be  but  a  chance  that  it  may 
be  instrumental  in  diminishing  the  Bufferings  of  our  fellow 
men,  deserves  to  be  received  with  something  more  decorous 


*  This  subject  is  finely  touched  upon  in  "  The  Human  Body,"  by  Dr. 
J.  J.  G.  Wilkinson. 


20 

than  ridicule.  "Those  who  reject  it,  or  who  cast  it  out  of 
the  way,  as  unworthy  of  inquiry,  must  do  so  on  their  own 
responsibility,"  [f  they  decline  "to  search  all  things  that 
may  present  even  the  shadow  6f  a  chance  of  bringing  them 
more  Dearly  acquainted  with  the  laws  which  the  Creator 
has  instituted  for  the  government  of  the  world,  and  espe- 
cially with  those  upon  which  He  lias  caused  the  preservation 
of  health  to  depend,  let  them  recognize  that  it  will  he  vain 
for  them,  in  any  after  hour  of  hopelessness,  when  it  may  be 
too  late  to  avert  their  own  premature  death,  or  the  death 
of  a  relative  or  friend,  to  rely  on  the  hackneyed  consolation, 
thai  the  calamity  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  new  instance  of  the 
inscrutable  ways  of  Providence,  and  not  as  the  penalty  of 
having  wilfully  blinded  themselves  to  any  light  beneficently 
Bet  Ik!'.. re  them,  the  reception  of  which  might  have  ensured 
their  preservation."  * 

*  "  Truths  and  their  reception,"  by  M.  B.  Sampson,  p.  07. 


Rvgby,  May  5,  1854. 


Cratts  oit  Jomaogatp.  ^h. 


1A 


THE   DEFENCE 


HOKEOPATHY, 


BY  AVILLIAM  SHARP,  M.D.  F.R.S. 


/tfti)  (etjttt0n, 


BOERICKE  &   TAFEL: 
NEW  YORK,  PHILADELPHIA, 


No.  146  GRAND  STREET. 


No.  1011  ARCH  STREET. 


"Experience  shews  many  means  to  be  conducive  and  necessary  to  accomplish  ends, 
which  means,  before  experience,  we  should  have  thought,  would  have  had  even  a  contrary 
tendency." 

Butler.    Analogy. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION. 


The  following  remarks  were  originally  published  as  a  Reply  to 
Dr.  Routh's  "  Fallacies  of  Homoeopathy."  They  were  sent  to  Dr. 
Routh  with  a  courteous  letter  from  the  author,  when  they  were 
first  written  on  the  11th  of  May,  1852.  As  they  have  not  been 
answered,  nor  the  receipt  even  of  the  author's  letter  acknowledged, 
Dr,  Routh  may  be  considered  as  disposed  of.  The  Reply  might 
therefore  be  allowed,  so  far  as  Dr.  Routh  is  concerned,  to  go  out 
of  print,  but  for  two  reasons  it  is  thought  desirable  that  it  should 
remain  more  permanently  before  the  public  ;  first,  because  the  ar- 
guments and  objections  against  Homoeopathy  here  noticed  are  still 
very  frequently  advanced,  and  boasted  of  as  unanswerable  ;  and 
secondly,  because  the  valuable  statistical  facts  brought  before  us 
by  Dr.  Routh,  with  his  slender  and  unimportant  objections  to  their 
valid  and  significant  testimony  to  the  superior  success  of  Homoeo- 
pathic treatment,  cannot  be  too  frequently  placed  before  the  eyes 
of  the  nation,  or  of  mankind  at  large. 

Rugby,  November  17th,  1852. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FOURTH  EDITION. 


Since  the  appearance  of  the  above  Preface  I  have  received  a 
letter  from  Dr.  Routh,  dated  May  25th,  1853,  in  which  he  says  he 
has  "  no  recollection  of  having  received  "  my  letter  and  Reply  ;  at 
the  same  time  he  states  that  "  even  to  its  second  edition,  the  work 
was  not  unknown  to"  him. 

In  acknowledging  to  Dr.  Routh  the  receipt  of  his  letter,  I  ob- 
served that  I  could  not  know  whether  my  letter  and  Reply  reached 
him  or  not,  but  that  they  were  undoubtedly  sent ;  as  however  he 
owned  himself  familiar  with  the  Reply  to  its  second  edition,  I  was 
happy  to  think  that  I  had  not  done  him  much  injustice  in  my  Pre- 
face to  the  third. 

Rugby,  August  12th,  1853. 


THE  DEFENCE  OF  IIOM(EOPATHY. 

•'  Opinionum  commenta  delet  dies,  naturae  judicia  confirmat." 

ClCEUO. 

41  Time  obliterates  the  fictions  of  opinion,  and  confirms  the  decisions  of  nature." 

Johnson. 

Dr.  Routh  commences  by  stating  it  is  "  at  the  request  of 
several  distinguished  friends,  that  he  has  been  "  induced  to 
publish  in  a  separate  form  his  researches  on  the  subject  of 
Homoeopathy."  His  book  moreover  has  been  Frequently 
referred  to  by  medical  men  attached  to  the  old  mode  of 
practice,  as  containing  their  arguments  against  Homoeo- 
pathy. It  may  therefore  fairly  be  presumed  that  it  ex- 
presses the  present  views  of  that  portion  of  the  profession. 
A  reply  seems  called  for  on  the  part  of  Homoeopathy 

Dr.  Routh  then  observes  that  u  this  system  (of  Homoeo- 
pathy) has  unfortunately  lately  made,  and  continues  to 
make  such  progress  in  this  country,  and  the  metropolis  in 
particular,  and  is  daily  extending  its  influence,  even  among,  t 
the  mosfrleUrned,  and  those  whose  high  position  in  society 
gives  them  no  little  moral  power  over  the  opinions  of  the 
multitude,  that  our  prof  ession  is,  1  think,  bound  to  make  it 
the  subject  of  inquiry  and  investigation."  For  this  state- 
ment Homoeopathists  are  obliged  to  Dr.  Routh.  It  expresses 
in  forcible  words  an  important  truth, — the  rapid  spread  of 
Homoeopathy  among  that  portion  of  the  community  best 
able  to  appreciate  its  value  ;  and  it  well  seconds  their  own 
oft-repeated  and  urgent  request  that  medical  men  would 
make  Homoeopathy  the  subject  of  inquiry  and  investigation. 
Dr.  Routh  next  proceeds  to  remark  that  "violent  opposi- 
tion to  Homoeopathy  can  do  no  good.  Abuse,  intolerance 
cannot  be  accepted  by  the  world  as  a  fair  and  philosophical 
inquiry.  These  can  only  call  forth  new  defenders.  .  .  . 
.  .  All  doctrines  are  founded  on  truth,  or  what  is  sup- 
posed to  be  truth.  The  way  to  disprove  a  doctrine  is  there- 
fore, not  by  assailing  it  as  ridiculous  or  absurd, — a  convic- 
tion of  error  can  only  follow  when  the  foundations  upon 
which  it  is  based  are  shown  to  be  untenable.  Examples 
of  such  unphilosophical  demeanor  in  refusing  fair  inquiry, 
or  prosecuting  an  e.c-parte  investigation  are  not  wanting. 
.  .  .  .  Thus  the  Homceopathist  lias  reason  on  his  side 
when  he  appeals  to  the  history  of  the  French  Academy,  us 
exemplifying  intolerance  and  unfairness    in    inquiry,     lie 


6  THE    DEFENCE 

tells  us  that  in  1042,  this  assembly  declared  that  the  blood 
did  not  circulate  in  the  body;  in  1672, that  is  was  impossi- 
ble. In  177-1,  after  having  opposed  inoculation  for  fifty 
years,  it  admitted  its  advantages,  the  moment  three  Princes 
of  the  Royal  blood  had  been  inoculated  contrary  to  their 
permission.  In  1609,  it  expelled  one  of  its  members  for 
making  use  of  and  curing  his  patients  of  ague  by  quinine. 
Even  among  ourselves  the  great  Harvey  was  persecuted 
for  his  discovery  (of  the  circulation  of  the  blood.)  The 
time  was  when  the  surgeon  who  had  dared  to  bring  to- 
gether the  edges  of  the  a  cut  surface  to  unite  by  the  first 
intention,  (that  is  to  heal  immediately,)  or  who  had  ventur- 
ed to  dress  wounds  by  water  dressings,  in  lieu  of  plugging 
by  large  pieces  of  lint  and  cerate,  (by  which  means  the 
healing  of  the  wounds  was  protracted  for  weeks  or  even 
months,)  met  with  the  universal  reprobation  of  the  pro- 
fession, and  was  accused  of  quackery.  Even  in  later  years, 
with  what  opprobrious  names  was  the  discovery  of  (vaccina- 
tion by)  the  great  Jenner  assailed !  Nay,  but  very  recently, 
with  what  violence  was  the  introduction  of  the  stethoscope 
opposed!  and  in  the  present  year  how  have  not  certain 
physician-operators  been  insulted  by  the  ascription  of 
motives,  not  certainly  the  most  honorable."  These  paral- 
lels clearly  exhibit  the  unfair  reception  which  Homoeopathy 
has  hitherto  met  with  from  the  bulk  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession. I  have  only  to  thank  Dr.  Routh  for  having  so  well 
expressed  the  true  state  of  the  case. 

Thus  far  for  introduction.  Dr.  Routh  next  addresses 
himself  to  the  investigation  of  Homoeopathy.  To  this  I 
will  apply  myself  with  all  seriousness,  and  in  such  a  manner 
that  I  trust  neither  Dr.  Routh  nor  my  readers  will  have 
just  cause  to  complain  of  any  impropriety  on  my  part.  I 
agree  with  Dr.  Routh  that  "he  only  is  the  true  philosopher 
who  can  so  far  separate  his  mind  from  the  bias  of  the  day 
as  to  extricate  it  from  the  dazzling  perplexities  which 
surround  him,  and  by  adopting  only  those  conclusions  which 
logical  reasoning  deduces,  is  enabled,  out  of  this  labyrinth 
to  bring  out  truth." 

Instead  of  adopting  Dr.  Routh's  division  of  the  subject, 
I  shall  prefer  the  following: — 

First,  the  consideration  of  the  principle  of  Homoeopathy 
— "Similia  similibns  curantur." 

Secondly,  the  question  of  small  doses. 

Thirdly,  the  statistics  upon  which  is  founded  a  preference 
of  Homceopathy,  as  the  most  successful  method  yet  known 
of  treating  diseases. 


OF    HOMCEOPATHY.  7 

1st.  The  principle  of  Homoeopathy,  or  the  supposed  law 

of  nature  upon  which  it  is  based.  Dr.  Uoutli  observes  thai 
"this  law  is  defined  by  Hahnemann  as  follows: — 'Thai  in 
order  to  cure  in  a  mild,  prompt,  safe,  and  durable  manner, 
it  is  necessary  to  choose,  in  each  case,  a  medicine  that  will 
incite  an  affection  similar  (u/lolov  naOoc)  to  that  against 
which  it  is  employed.'  It  was,  it  is  said,  discovered  in  1  79<  >, 
by  Hahnemann,  while  engaged  in  translating  Cullen's 
Materia  Medica." 

Having  endeavored  to  explain  this  principle  in  another 
Tract,*  entitled  "What  is  Homoeopathy?"  I  need  not  repeat 
that  explanation  here.  I  will  suppose  that  my  readers  un- 
derstand the  basis  of  Homoeopathy,  the  general  fact  or 
maxim  "  similia  similibus  curantur." 

In  all  controversies  it  is  well,  I  think,  to  ascertain  first 
how  far  the  parties  are  agreed.  Let  us  see,  therefore,  how 
far  Dr.  Routh  assents  to  this  principle,  before  we  tonsid<  r 
his  objections. 

"Allopaths,  admitting  the  occasional  truth  of  this  doc- 
trine, 'similia  similibus  curantur,'  have  given  the  larger 
dose.  The  experiments  of  Majendie  have  shown,  that 
tartar  emetic,  in  doses  of  six  to  eight  grains,  will  produce, 
amongst  other  lesions,  pneumonia,  if  not  rejected  by  vomit- 
ing. Every  day's  experience  proves  the  efficacy  of  large 
doses  of  tartar  emetic  in  curing  pneumonia  and  other  affec- 
tions of  the  lungs.  Arsenious  acid,  long  continued,  will 
produce  a  variety  of  cutaneous  eruptions.  The  advantage 
of  arsenic  in  many  of  these  diseases  is,  on  the  other  hand, 
well  recognized.  Certain  peculiar  eruptions  which  occur 
after  taking  mercury,  have  been  described  as  produced  by 
it,  and  which  closely  resemble  those  against  which  mercury 
is  a  specific.  Here  then  are  instances  of  the  occasional 
truth  of  this  law."     (Page  6.) 

Our  thanks  are  due  to  Dr.  Routh  for  such  excellent  ex- 
amples of  the  law  of  Homoeopathy.  We  have  only  t«.  go 
on  with  other  instances.  Hippocrates,  the  Father  of  Me- 
dicine, two  and  twenty  centuries  ago, says  that  a  drug  which 
will  produce  strangury,  will  cure  it,  when  it  has  arisen  from 
another  cause,  and  Dr.  Greenfield,  a  member  of  the  Royal 
College  of  Physicians  in  London,  was  sent  t<»  Newgate  in 
1694,  by  the  President  of  his  College,  for  giving  cantha- 
rides,  (the  blistering  fly,  which  all  know  often  produces  com- 
plaints of  the  bladder),  with  great  success  in  cases  of  this 
kind.     Again,  every  one  knows  that   cinchona   (Peruvian 

*  And  more  fully  i.i  several  other  Tracts. 


8  THE    DEFENCE 

bark),  is  a  specific  for  ague;  "Now,"  says  Dr.  Routh,  "bark 
certainly  produces  symptom*,  as  alleged  by  Homceopathists, 
very  like  those  of  ague?  Again  our  thanks  are  due  to  Dr. 
Routh.  Nitric  acid  is  a  great  remedy  for  salivation, — 
Dr.  Pereira,  (an  eminent  allopathic  authority,)  says  it  ex- 
cites or  produces  salivation.  Sulphur  often  produces  erup- 
tions on  the  skin,  as  those  who  frequent  baths  like  Harro- 
gate well  know;  it  is  notorious  as  a  remedy  for  similar 
affections.  Thus  we  might  proceed,  not  only  through  the 
fifty  medicines  originally  proved  in  this  way  by  Hahne- 
mann himself,  but  through  upwards  of  three  hundred 
which  have  been  proved  since  his  day,  by  the  persevering 
industry  of  others,  Nearly  all  known  medicines  have  been 
thus  examined, — a  larger  number  than  is  included  in  the 
Materia  Meclica  of  the  College  of  Physicians  as  published 
in  their  official  Pharmacopoeia.  A  strong  method  of  test- 
ing such  a  principle  as  this  is  to  select  a  poison,  and  note 
the  symptoms  produced  by  it,  and  then  to  give  it  in  smaller 
doses  to  cases  of  natural  disease  suffering  from  similar 
symptoms, — :but  for  which  it  has  never  before  been  given 
as  a  medicine ;  if  it  be  found  to  cure  such  cases,  the  truth 
of  the  law  is  greatly  maintained.  This  has  been  done  in 
many  cases,— an  allusion  to  one  instance  will  suffice.  Bella- 
donna, the  deadly  nightshade.  Children  have  been  poi- 
soned by  the  berries  of  this  plant,  when  they  have  met 
with  them  in  the  woods  and  eaten  them.  They  have 
suffered  from  fever,  affection  of  the  brain  and  throat,  and 
a  scarlet  eruption  on  the  skin.  Hahnemann  was  induced 
to  test  the  principle  which  had  been  suggested  to  his  mind 
by  an  appeal  to  this  experiment ;  he  gave  Belladonna  in 
scarlet  fever,  and  found  not  only  that  it  was  a  better  remedy 
than  any  previously  known,  but  that  it  is  also  proved  a 
preservative  from  it  when  given  to  those  exposed  to  the 
infection  of  the  scarlet  fever. 

That  which  is  merely  a  suspicion  m  a  single  instance, 
becomes  a  strong  probability  when  confirmed  by  so  many 
important  examples  as  are  adduced  by  Dr.  Routh,  and  an 
established  reality  when  it  is  found  not  only  that  it  is 
applicable  to  hundreds  of  other  substances,  but  that  no 
serious  or  material  exception  can  be  brought  forward  against 
it.  This  law  is  now  ascertained  to  be  a  practical  guide  to 
the  best  use  that  can  be  made  of  every  valuable  remedy 
we  are  possessed  of.  Homceopathists  put  it  to  a  continual 
and  daily  test,  and  it  does  not  fail  them.  The  few  excep- 
tional instances  which  Dr.  Routh  adduces  against  it  are  of 
the  most  meagre  description ;  he  goes  with  us  a  long  way 


OF    HOMOEOPATHY.  9 

in  the  admission  of  the  principle,  we  have  only  to  carry 
him  with  us  a  little  further. 

Suffer  me  to  ask,  why  do  Astronomers  rely  upon  the  law 
of  gravitation?  They  put  it  to  continual  tests,  and  it  does 
not  fail  them.  So  let  the  law  of  similia  be  tried,  and  bo 
let  it  be  trusted  till  it  fails. 

Thus  Dr.  Routh's  opposition  to  the  principle  of  Homoeo- 
pathy seems  to  have  disappeared.  His  own  instances  have 
laid  a  foundation  which  only  required  to  be  built  upon 
that  it  might  become  an  impregnable  castle  of  truth. 

We  may  now  proceed  to  the  second  matter  in  dis- 
cussion:— 

2d.  The  small  dose. 

This  is  a  great  stumbling-block  with  Dr.  Routh,  as  it  is 
with  many  others.  Let  us,  however,  as  we  have  done  in 
the  consideration  of  the  principle,  first  ascertain  how  far 
Dr.  Routh  goes  along  with  us,  and  then  we  shall  perhaps 
know  better  where  we  differ. 

"ft  is  eertamly  true"  says  Dr.  Routh,  "that  small  doses, 
and  especially  in  large  dilution,  (which  is  the  mode  in 
which  Homoeopathic  remedies  are  prepared,)  will  often- 
times act  very  satisfactorily."  (Page  17.)  How  does  he 
know  it?  "fhave  seen  this"  he  replies,  "repeatedly." 

How  small  the  doses  were  which  he  has  seen  that  act  thus 
satisfactorily,  Dr.  Routh  does  not  inform  us,  but  this  is  of 
little  moment.  It  is  obvious  that  he  has  gone  a  certain 
len'jth  with  the  small  doses,  and  that,  so  far  as  he  has  gon  • 
experimentally,  they  have  acted  very  satisfactorily  in  his 
hands.  The  limit  then  of  this  satisfactory  action  is  the 
same  as  the  limit  of  Dr.  Routh's  experience.  So  far  as  he 
has  tried  them  they  have  acted  very  satisfactorily, — he  lias 
tried  none  so  small  that  they  have  failed  him.  Now,  this 
is  precisely  what  every  one  testifies;  so  far  as  any  have 
tried  them,  the  doses  becoming  smaller  and  smaller,  or,  in 
other  words,  more  and  more  diluted,  they  have  acted  satis- 
factorily. 

To  this  point  then  we  are  agreed:  so  far  as  cither  of  08 
have  ascertained  this  practical  point  experimentally,  we 
have  obtained  satisfactory  action  from  our  doses.  We  begin 
to  differ  only  where  Dr.  Routh's  experience  ceases,  and  he 
begins  to  conjecture.  It  is  well  to  make  this  point  clearly 
evident. 

Dr.  Routh  was  about  to  define  the  limit  of  the  legitimate 

and  satisfactory  dose, — smaller  than  which  every  dose  would 

be  "a  piece  of  affectation."     (Page  7.)     He  says  that  what 

he  has  seen  repeatedly  is  certainly  true ;  does  it  not,  there- 

1* 


10 


THE    DEFENCE 


fore,  seem  extraordinary  that  lie  did  not  go  on  trying  smallei 
and  smaller  doses  so  long  as  they  continued  to  act  satis- 
factorily, and  until  they  became  so  small  as  to  cease  to  do 
so  ?  Had  Dr.  Routh  pursued  this  course,  selecting  his  medi- 
cines in  each  case  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  similia, 
his  testimony  would  have  been  of  weight,  but  instead  of 
proceeding  thus,  he  has  ventured  to  condemn  every  dose 
less  than  those  he  has  himself  tried,  for  the  following 
reason: — "We  are  compelled,"  he  says,  "to  conclude  that 
the  infinitesimal  doses,  neither  by  analogy,  nor  upon  aiiy 
theoretical  grounds,  can  have  any  power  upon  the  human 
frame."     (Page  16.) 

But,  in  a  case  so  peculiar  as  the  action  of  drugs  upon  a 
living  body,  what  analogy  or  what  theory  have  we  to  guide 
us?  Is  it  not  a  matter  of  experience?  A  question  of  fact? 
By  what  analogy,  or  theory,  did  Dr.  Routh  ascertain  that 
his  small  doses  in  large  dilution  would  act  very  satisfac- 
torily ?  His  reply  is  the  only  sensible  one  which  can  be 
given.  "I  have  seen  it  repeatedly,  therefore  I  believe  it  to 
be  certainly  "true !" 

Suppose  then  he  were  to  try  still  smaller  doses,  (which, 
perhaps,  true  analogy  would  lead  him  to  do,)  and  suppose 
he  were  to  see  that  these  also  acted  very  satisfactorily,  will 
he  not  know  that  this  also  is  certainly  true  ?  What  then 
will  become  of  his  analogy  and  theory  ?  It  is  a  vain  pretence. 
These  are  questions  of  fact,  and  the  public  have  reason  to 
be  aggrieved  with  Dr.  Routh,  for  objecting,  from  false 
analogy  and  theory,  to  a  matter  asserted  to  be  fact  which 
he  refuses  to  verify  by  "seeing"  it. 

It  is  a  repetition  of  the  conduct  of  Galileo's  brother 
professor,  who  refused  to  look  through  the  newly  invented 
telescope,  lest  he  should  see  Jupiter's  moons.  He  preferred 
the  argument  from  false  analogy  and  theory  that  tlay  could 
not  he  there.  But  it  is  more  blameable  in  Dr.  Routh,  because 
the  matter  in  hand  is  still  more  important  to  the  well-being 
of  mankind. 

It  appears,  then,  that  Dr.  Routh's  opposition  to  the  doses 
frequently  given  by  Homceopathists  rests  thus ;  he  admits 
that  he  has  repeatedly  seen  small  doses  act  very  satisfac- 
torily, and  he  asserts  that  this  is  certainly  true ;  but  he 
asserts  also  that  what  he  has  not  seen,  and  refuses  to  see, 
cannot  possibly  be  true  !  though  many  others,  his  equals,  at 
least  in  intelligence  and  credit,  have  seen  it,  and  testify  to 
its  truth.  "Analogy  and  theory  compel  him  to  conclude 
that  such  doses  can  have  no  power." 

I  conclude  by  observing  that  we  value  Dr.  Routh's  testi- 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  11 

mony  as  to  what  he  has  repeatedly  seen,  and  agree  with 
him  in  believing  that  it  is  certainly  true  ;  our  only  difference 
on  this  head  being  that  we  decline  to  adopt  his  analogical 
and  theoretical  opinions,  as  destitute  of  the  slightest  foun- 
dation. We  recommend  him  to  carry  on  his  experiments 
with  still  smaller  doses,  and  we  doubt  not  he  will  repeatedly 
see  that  they  also  act  very  satisfactorily  ;  he  will  then  conn' 
to  the  same  conclusion  with  respect  to  them  that  he  has 
with  regard  to  those  he  has  already  tried,  and  will  become 
convinced  that  the  power  and  efficacy  even  of  infinitesimal 
doses  is  "certainly  true." 

I  must  remark  however,  that,  after  all,  the  small  dose  is 
not  Homoeopathy.  It  is  the  principle — the  law  of  similia 
similibus  curantur,  which  constitutes  Homoeopathy,  in 
whatever  dose  the  medicines  may  be  given. 

AVe  now  come  to  the  third  part  of  our  subject: — 

3d.  The  comparative  success  of  Homoeopathy,  as  evi- 
denced by  the  general  mortality  of  hospitals. 

We  might  wish  that  the  means  at  our  disposal  Avere  more 
extensive  than  they  at  present  are;  but  it 'is  a  difficult 
subject,  and  we  are  indebted  to  many  laborious  men  for  the 
pains  they  have  taken  in  registering  their  cases.  We  are 
under  obligations  for  these  labors,  and  we  must  take  them 
as  our  guide  in  the  inquiry.  "It  is  to  be  regretted,"  says 
Dr.  Routh,  "that  the  statistical  returns  for  comparison  from 
Allopathic  Hospitals,  are  frequently  insufficient  for  special 
diseases ;  on  the  contrary,  this  is  a  point  to  which  the 
Homoeopaths  have  directed  particular  attention,  and  they 
have  already  derived  benefit  from  it  with  the  public." 
(Page  37.) 

Under  the  preceding  heads,  I  have  endeavored  to  ascer- 
tain, first,  wherein  Dr.  Routh  and  Homoeopathists  agree,  in 
order  to  lessen,  as  much  as  possible,  the  grounds  of  contro- 
versy. I  shall  again  seek  to  reduce,  within  the  smallest 
compass,  the  matters  wherein  we  differ  on  this  mosl  im- 
portant, and  to  the  public,  most  interesting  part  of  our 
subject. 

We  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Routh  for  having  taken  pains  in 
collecting  and  placing  in  juxta-position  a  variety  of  public 
statistics.     From  these  I  will  make  some  extracts:— 
Pneumonia  (inflammation  of  the  lun<:s). 


Admitted. 

Died. 

Mortality 
per-cent. 

Allop.  Hospital,  Vienna  .     . 

.     .1134 

260 

S3 

Horn.         do.           do.      .     . 

.     .     538 

5 

This  is  part  of  the   first    table   in  the  appendix.     Before 
commenting  upon  it,  it  will  be  well  to  allude  to  another 


12  THE  DEFENCE 

question,  the  comparative  success  in  cases  in  which  no 
medicine,  either  in  large  doses  or  small  ones,  has  been 
given.  Dr.  Routh  says  a  great  deal  upon  this  subject;  I 
quote  the  following  passage: — "Dr.  Dietl,  the  Allopathic 
physician  of  the  Wieden  hospital,  in  Vienna,  anxious  to  test 
the  efficacy  of  dietetic  regimen  in  pneumonia,  instituted  a 
series  of  experiments.  In  the  course  of  three  years  that 
gentleman  treated  380  cases  of  pneumonia.  Eighty-five  of 
these  cases  were  treated  by  repeated  bleedings ;  of  this 
number  17  died,  or  20  per-cent. ;  the  remaining  68  recovered. 
One  hundred  and  six  were  treated  with  tartar  emetic ;  the 
mortality  was  now  20.7  per-cent,  22  dying,  and  84  only 
recovering.  The  remaining  189  were  treated  by  simple 
dietetic  means  ;  the  deaths  amounted  to  14,  or  7.4  per-cent., 
175  recovering.  The  above  data  have  been  given  upon  the 
evidence  of  Dr.  Roth,  {Horn.  Times,  No.  4°-,)  an  eminent 
Homoeopathic  writer."     (Page  55.) 

Here  then  is  a  point  upon  which  both  sides  are  agreed, 
seeing  that  this  experimental  investigation  by  Dr.  Dietl  is 
adduced  by  opposing  writers.  My  readers  will  note  well 
the  information  it  imparts.  It  appears  from  this  statement 
that  when  cases  of  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  admitted  by 
all  to  be  a  dangerous  disease,  are  treated,  as  is  almost 
universally  done  by  Allopathic  practitioners,  by  bleeding 
and  large  doses  of  powerful  drugs,  about  20  die  out  of 
every  hundred  (in  the  Glasgow  Infirmary  27,)  while  under 
simple  dietetic  management,  only  about  seven  die  in  a 
hundred  cases. 

"I  think,"  says  Dr.  Routh,  "we  may  therefore  conclude 
that  nature,  or  very  simple  emollient  drinks,  quiet,  rest,  a 
warm  atmosphere,  will  often  cure  pneumonia  apart  from 
any  drugging  whakv&r."  (Page  56.)  He  had  previously 
(page  35)  observed  "that  simple  hygienic  treatment,  i.  e., 
attention  to  diet,  regularity  in  the  hours  of  meals  and  of 
rest,  exercise,  change  of  air,  will  oftentimes  cure  many  dis- 
eases, apart  from  any  so-called  drug,  indeed  in  a  few  cases, 
where  drugs  have  failed  altog  the/;  cannot  be  disputed." 

The  inference  that  entire  abstinence  from  medicines  is 
to  be  preferred  to  the  large  doses  of  poisonous  drugs,  and 
to  the  loss  of  blood,  would  seem  to  be  inevitable.  It  is  true 
that  Dr.  Routh, — alarmed  at  this  conclusion  staring  him  in 
the  face  from  his  own  pages,  exclaims  "  God  forbid  that  we 
should  assent  to  such  a  heresy !"  But  how  can  it  be  escaped 
1V.hu?  His  own  statistics  in  favor  of  diet  are  such  a  mortal 
tli rust  at  old  physic  that  lie  lias  himself  put  it  irrecoverably 
"  hors  de  combat." 


OF  .HOMOEOPATHY.  13 

^  Homoeopathists  then  agree  with  Dr.  Routlx  that  simple 
diet  is  better  than  large  dosing. 

Nor  is  this  opinion  a  new  one.  "If',''  says  Addison,  with 
exquisite  humor,  in  the  Spectator  for  March  24,  171",  k>  we 
look  into  the  profession  of  physic,  we  shall  find  a  i 
formidable  body  of  men;  the  sight  of  them  is  enough  to 
make  a  man  serious,  for  we  may  lay  it  down  as  a  maxim, 
that  when  a  nation  abounds  in  physicians  it  grows  thin  <  f 
■people.  Sir  William  Temple  is  very  much  puzzled  to  find 
out  a  reason  why  the  northern  hive,  as  he  calls  it,  docs  not 
send  out  such  prodigious  swarms,  and  over-run  the  world 
with  Goths  and  Vandals  as  it  did  formerly ;  but  had  that 
excellent  author  observed  that  there  were  no  students  in 
physic  among  the  subjects  of  Thor  and  Woden,  and  that  this 
science  very  much  flourishes  in  the  north  at  present,  lie 
might  have  found  a  better  solution  for  this  difficulty  than 
any  of  those  he  has  made  use  of.  This  body  of  men  in  our 
own  country,  may  be  described  like  the  British  army  in 
Caesars  time  :  some  of  them  slay  in  chariots  and  som 
foot.  If  the  infantry  do  less  execution  than  the  charioteers, 
it  is  because  they  cannot  be  carried  so  soon  into  all  quarters 
of  the  town,  and  dispatch  so  much  business  in  so  short  a 
time.  Besides  this  body  of  regular  troops,  there  are 
stragglers,  who,  without  being  duly  listed  and  enrolled,  do 
infinite  mischief  to  those  who  are  so  unlucky  as  to  fall  into 
their  hands.1' 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  what  the  advocates  of 
Homoeopathy,  have  really  to  aim  at  is  to  prove  its  superi- 
ority, not  over  large  doses  of  medicine,  but  over  no  medicine 
at  all.  Now,  in  reference  to  the  cases  of  pneumonia  reported 
above,  (all  of  them  occurring  in  Vienna,  and  at  about  the 
same  period  of  time,  and  therefore  fairly  to  be  supposed 
tolerably  similar,)  it  will  be  observed  that  while  diet  lost 
seven  in  the  hundred,  Homoeopathy  lost  only  five.  Again 
in  the  Irish  famine  fever,  referred  to  in  my  former  pamphlet, 
I  may  remind  my  readers  that  while  Dr.  Tuckey,  in  the 
Bantry  Union  Hospital,  with  every  advantage,  lost  more 
than  13  per-cent.  under  large  doses,  and  while  in  another 
hospital,  where  no  medicine  was  given,  ten  died  in  the 
hundred,  Mr.  Kidd  treated  in  their  own  huts,  with  every 
unfavorable  circumstance,  112  cases  with  Homoeopathy, 
and  lost  only  two. 

To  pursue  this  subject  further  would  carry  us  away  from 
our  present  object. 

That  the  cases  treated  by  Dr.  Fleisehniann,  in  the  Homoeo- 
pathic hospital  at  Vienna,  were  really  pneumonia,  we  have 


14  THE  DEFENCE 

the  following  case  given  us  in  evidence  by  Dr.  Routh  him- 
self:— "  A  young  girl  of  about  twenty- three,  affected  with 
extensive  double  pneumonia  (the  lungs  on  both  sides  of 
the  chest  inflamed).  All  the  symptoms  were  unusually 
marked,  accompanied  with  high  fever,  lividity  of  coun- 
tenance, occasional  delirium ;  and  yet  without  a  single 
poultice,  cataplasm,  or  other  treatment  than  the  inert 
globule,  rest,  emollient  drinks,  a  warm  atmosphere,  and 
starvation,  she  got  well.  That  it  was  pneumonia,  I  con- 
vinced myself  by  stethoscopic  examination.  The  disease 
attained  the  second  stage,  but  it  was  fully  four  weeks  before 
she  was  convalescent,  and  all  the  physical  signs  of  the  dis- 
ease had  disappeared."  (Page  54.)  But  they  did  disappear, 
which  is  frequently  not  the  case  after  the  debilitating 
effects  of  bleeding  and  drugs,  even  in  cases  classed  under 
revovery. 

That  the  globule  was  "  inert"  in  this  case  is  precisely  the 
point  under  discussion,  and  therefore  cannot  "logically" 
(Dr.  Routh  is  fond  of  the  word)  be  taken  for  granted.  The 
result  of  the  case  would  rather  appear  to  prove  strongly 
the  contrary. 

The  following  are  a  few  more  of  the  statistics  given  by 
Dr.  Routh  :— 

PLEURISY. 

Admitted.         >  Mortality 

per-cent. 

Allop.  Hospitals 1017         134  13 

Horn,  ditto 366  12  3 

PERITONITIS. 

Allop.  ditto G28  81  13 

Horn,  ditto 184  8  4 

DYSENTERY. 

Allop.  ditto 162  37  22 

Horn,  ditto  ........       175  6  3 

FEVER,    EXCLUDING    TYPHUS. 

Admitted.       Died.  Mortality 

per-cent. 

Allop.  ditto  . 9697         931  9 

Horn,  ditto  . 3062  84  2 

TYPHUS. 

Allop.  ditto i     9371        1509  16 

Horn,  ditto  .     .     .     >  .   .     .     .     ,  J 423         219  14 

(The  deaths  from  Typhus  in  Vienna,  where  occurred  most 
of  the  Homoeopathic  patients,  were  in  the  Allopathic 
Hospitals,  VJ  per-cent) 

ALL  DISEASES, 

Dr.  Routh  gives  the  statistics  of  hospitals  in  London, 
Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Liverpool,  Vienna,  Leipzig,  Linz,  and 
other  places;  the  following  appears  to  be  the  general 
result : — 


o 


OF  IIOMCEOPATIIY.  15 

Admitted.         Died.    Mortality. 

Allop.  Hospitals— Grand  Total  .     ll<).f>30     11,791     1<>.5 

Horn,     ditto  ditto     ditto      .     .       3C,G55       l,3f!j       4.4 

Such  being  the  actual  results  given  by  Dr.  Routh,  it  will 
be  immediately  inquired,  how  docs  lie  get  over  Buch  ;i 
startling  testimony  in  favor  of  Homoeopathy  !  For,  evidently, 

on  the  face  of  these  figures  the  question  is  settled. 

It  excites  surprize  to  discover  that  the  best  way  1  h\  Routh 
can  find  to  obviate  the  conclusion  thus  unavoidably  su 
gested,  is  to  bring  two  grave  accusations  againt  the  gentle 
men  having  the  care  of  the  Homoeopathic  hospitals,  without 
evidence  except  of  a  very  unsubstantial  character,  to  supp<  >rt 
his  charge.  He  accuses  them  of  selecting  their  cases,  that 
is,  of  wilful  fraud  ;  and  of  false  diagnosis,  or  mistaking- the 
nature  of  the  diseases,  that  is  of  great  ignorance.  It  will 
be  admitted  by  all  that  the  most  unequivocal  facts  ought 
to  be  brought  forward  to  justify  such  aspersions  as  these 
upon  the  moral  character  and  professional  qualifications  of 
any  body  of  men.  I  might  answer  these  charges  very  briefly, 
but  it  is  an  old  observation  that — 

"  Nihil  est  quin  male  narrando  possit  depravari," 
There  is  nothing  which  cannjt,  by  an  ill  way  of  telling  it,   be  made  to  appear  evil, 

and  lest  it  should  be  suspected  that  I  have  dealt  unfairly 
with  his  arguments,  Dr.  Routh  shall  be  heard  in  his  own 
words,  and  we  will  go  through  his  reasons  seriatim. 

"1.  The  exclusion  of  moribund  cases  is  not  fair."'  The 
only  example  of  this  kind  is  the  following,  "Id  some  tables 
published  by  M.  Touchon  in  his  work  on  Homoeopathy,  this 
error  is  committed."  I  have  not  seen  this  book,  and  there- 
fore cannot  say  how  fairly  the  extracts  are  made  from  it, 
but  Dr.  Routh  gives  the  numbers  for  four  hospitals  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  raise  the  per-centage  of  mortality 
from  4.-1  to  6.7. 

What  Dr.  Fleischmann  has  done  in  this  matter  is  t.»  da<s 
the  cases  which  die  almost  immediately  after  their  admissiou 
into  the  hospital,  under  the  head  u  admitted  moribund," 
instead  of  attempting  to  assign  them  to  any  specific  dis- 
ease. They  count  as  deaths  in  the  general  total.  I  think 
this  is  no  unusual  proceeding!  Dr.  Routh  d^c*  n<»t  advance 
another  instance,  and  even  the  one  given,  and  made  the 
most  of,  is  still  favorable  to  Homoeopathy.  (''.V  is  a  much 
less  mortality  than  10.5. 

"2.  One  source  whence  a  great  difference  in  the  cypher 
of  mortality  would  be  effected,  would  he  in  a  selection  of 
cases.''  Doubtless  it  would,  hut  what  proof  have  we  that 
such  a  selection  of  cases  is  really  made?     It  i>  asserted 


16  THE  DEFENCE 

that  "  the  serious  cases  are  few  and  far  between ;  the  milder 
cases,  on  the  contrary,  of  frequent  occurrence."  This  asser- 
tion is  supported  by  finding  in  Fleischmann's  hospital,  at 
Vienna,  between  1835 — 13,  622  cases  of  "simple  diseases 
seldom  fatal."  It  appears  from  the  Appendix  that,  during 
those  years,  nearly  8000  cases  were  admitted  into  that 
hospital ; — how  can  it  be  maintained  that  622  mild  cases 
scattered  among  8000,  render  the  serious  ones  few  and  far 
between  ?  Suppose  these  622  cases  entirely  struck  out,  the 
mortality  in  that  hospital  for  these  years  would  not  be 
raised  one  per-cent.  Had  we  the  means  of  ascertaining  it, 
I  have  no  doubt  that  in  any  other  hospital,  admitting  the 
same  number  of  patients,  we  should  find  an  equal,  if  not 
greater  proportion  of  simple  diseases  seldom  fatal. 

But  it  is  argued — 

"3.  Another  reason  of  the  increased  rate  of  mortality  in 
Allopathic  hospitals,  is  in  the  want  of  room  to  admit  milder 
cases  of  disease.  It  must  be  obvious  where  there  is  more 
room  for  the  admission  of  less  serious  cases,  the  annual 
mortality  will  be  less."  Very  true,  but  the  Allopathic 
Hospitals  are  considerably  larger  than  the  Homoeopathic 
Hospitals,  the  latter  therefore  are  disadvantageously  cir- 
cumstanced in  this  respect.  This  is  a  "reason"  which 
makes  the  favorable  results  of  Homo2opathic  treatment  still 
more  striking. 

Dr.  Routh  next  asks, — 

"  What  if  it  should  appear  that,  proportionally  to  their 
number  of  beds,  they  admit  more  patients,  perhaps  twice 
as  many ;  will  this  not  be  evidence  that  they  have  a  large 
number  of  milder  cases?"  Not  at  all.  But  rather  evidence 
that  the  cases,  though  severe,  are  more  quickly  cured  and 
dismissed. 

"  Certainly,  they  seem  to  admit  a  large  number  of  chronic 
cases."     If  so,  how  is  it  that  the  beds  change  their  occupants 
so  rapidly?  Every  one  knows  that  chronic  cases  under  the 
old  mode  of  treatment,  are  tedious  and  difficult  of  cure. 
f      Dr.  Routh  proceeds, — 

"1.  An  important  element  in  hospitals  towards  increasing 
or  diminishing  mortality,  is  the  degree  of  comfort  of 
patients,  and  the  ventilation  of  the  building."  If  the  old 
hospitals  are  deficient  in  these  respects,  it  is  high  time  that 
such  defects  should  be  brought  under  the  notice  of  the 
governors  of  these  hospitals* 

"5.  Another  circumstance  which  will  explain  the  different 
rate  of  mortality  in  Homoeopathic  hospital  returns,  is  in 
the  class  of  patients  admitted In  regard  to 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  17 

Dr.  Fleischmann's  hospital,  the  patients  .are  not  the  very 
poorest."  Dr.  Routh  himself  contradicts  this  statement 
further  on  (p.  6$)  where,  in  endeavoring  to  account  for  the 
large  proportion  of  fever  cases,  he  says,  B  Fleischmann  tells 
us  he  admits  the  poorer  classes."  It  is  moreover  the  fact 
that  his  hospital  is  situated  in  a  poor  manufacturing  district 
of  Vienna,  out  of  which  it  must  necessarily  receive  the 
majority  of  its  patients. 

*  6.  Sex  is  another  circumstance  which  exerts  a  powerful 
influence  on  disease  in  general."  But  Iioav  this  affects  the 
general  mortality  of  hospitals  receiving  hoth  sexes  indis- 
criminately is  not  suggested. 

"  7.  Age  materially  affects  the  cypher  of  mortality. 
.     .     It  is  precisely  between  ten  and  forty  that  persons  are 
most  healthy  and  least  likely  to  die.  .     .     .     Between 

ten  and  forty,  they  have  21  per-cent.  or  rather  less  than  one- 
third  too  many  patients  and  above  forty,  they  have  6.8  per- 
cent, or  nearly  one-half  too  few  patients.  .  .  .  The 
proof  of  selection  according  to  favorable  ages  is  perfect." 
How  perfect  this  proof  is,  shall  be  shown  by  the  following 
quotation  from  the  British  Journal  of  Homoeopathy,  [No.  4H ', 
page  347.1  "We  are  not  told  whether  or  not  Allopathic 
hospitals  nave  a  sufficient  number  of  patients  above  40, — 
but  we  can  inform  Dr,  Routh  that  they  have  not  We  do 
not  however  on  this  account  charge  these  hospitals  with  an 
attempt  at  deception,  but  content  ourselves  with  the  simple 
fact  that  the  missing  aged  poor  Dr.  Routh  is  in  search  of 
are  not  to  be  found  in  hosjritals,  either  Homoeopathic  or 
Allopathic,  but  quietly  engaged  picking  oakum  within  the 
walls  of  the  poor-houses." 

"Lastly,"  concludes  Dr.  Routh,  "the  Homoeopaths  prove 
too  much.  When  we  come  to  look  at  the  Homoeopathic 
mortality,  as  collected  from  some  of  their  hospitals,  we  find 
it  is  considerably  less  than  the  mortality  of  any  given  popu- 
lation, including  the  h a!th>/  as  well  as  the  diseased.  . 
.  .  A  2  per-cent.  mortality  is  a  common  occurrenci .  The 
Homoeopaths  thus  prove  too  much,  since  their  mortality, 
including  their  worse  and  most  severe  cases,  is  positively 
less  than  that  of  ordinary  populations  in  most  European 
countries,  which  average  2  to  2£  per-cent"  It  is  sufficient 
to  say  in  reply  to  this,  that  the  mortality  in  the  hospitals 
is  what  takes  place  during  on  average  of  less  than  a  fort- 
night's treatment,  while  that  of  entire  populations  is  the 
mortality  in  a  year  ! 

Such  are  the  arguments  "on  the  general  mortality  of 
hospitals"  advanced  by  Dr.  Routh  to  prove  the  "  Fallacies 


18 


THE  DEFENCE 


of  Homoeopathy."  They  are  repeated  on  "  the  mortality  in 
particular  diseases."  For  example  : — on  the  table  for  pneu- 
monia he  observes  that  it  is  "  a  result  most  favorable  to 

Homoeopathic  treatment to  be  explained  by  the  selection 

of  cases,  the  comfort  of  the  patient  in  the  hospital,  the 
age,  sex,  &c."  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  small  number 
of  deaths  from  all  diseases  was  explained  by  the  selection 
of  mild  cases ;  here  we  have  the  opposite  complaint  that 
too  many  cases  of  pneumonia  are  "  selected  !"  "  I  find  that 
in  the  two  years  1848  and  1849  there  were  admitted  into 
the  General  Hospitals  at  Vienna  51,709  cases  altogether. 
Of  these  1134  were  cases  of  pneumonia,  or  2.1  per-cent. 
Apply  this  test  to  Fleischmann's  (comparatively  very  small) 
hospital,  out  of  6,551  cases,  admitted  between  the  years 
1835  and  1843,  there  were  300  cases  returned  as  pneumonia, 
or  4.5  per-cent."  I  remark,  1st,  That  the  exclusion  of  dis- 
eases of  the  skin  and  other  chronic  diseases  from  Fleisch- 
mann's hospital,  which  constitute  a  considerable  class  in  the 
general  hospital,  renders  this  comparison,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  inapplicable.  2d.  That  the  comparison  is  defective 
in  point  of  time.  The  years  1835-43  being  compared  with 
1848-9.  We  all  know  how  a  disease  like  inflammation  of  the 
lungs  varies  in  frequency  in  different  years  ;  and  3dly.  That 
the  statement  proves  how  unfounded  was  the  first  charge 
of  "  selection"  of  a  too  large  proportion  of  mild  cases,  and 
that  in  reality  this  hospital  receives  and  cures  a  much 
larger  proportion  of  severe  acute  cases  than  the  Allopathic 
hospitals. 

On  the  table  for  pleurisy,  Dr.  Routh  says,—  as  before  the 

advantage  is  in  favor  of  Homoeopathy "  There  is  reason 

to  believe  the  cases  are  either  not  genuine  or  seLcted? 
What  reason  ?  "  The  number  of  cases  admitted  are  at  least 
dmiUe  the  number  admitted  in  Allopathic  Institutions." 
And  yet  it  was  pretended  above  that  the  general  mortality 
from  all  diseases  is  reduced  by  the  selection  of  too  many 
mild  cases,  and  the  "  rigid  exclusion"  of  such  serious  ones 
as  pneumonia  and  pleurisy  are  admitted  to  be  !  As  to  the 
cases  not  being  genuine,  the  hospitals  are  constantly  open 
to  inspection ;  medical  men  are  invited  to  witness  the 
practice  ;  Dr.  Routh  has  visited  them,  he  brings  forward 
no  sufficient  evidence  on  which  charges,  so  dishonorable 
to  the  whole  profession,  should  rest;  his  assertions  and  in- 
sinuations are  directly  contradicted  by  an  eminent  Allo- 
pathic practitioner,  who  has  also  visited  these  hospitals, 
and  who  says  that~thc  cases  he  saw  treated  in  Fleischmann's 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  19 

Horn.  Hospital  were  fully  as  acute  and  virulent  as  any  he 
had  observed  elsewhere. —  Wyldd*  Austria,  p.  L;77. 

Dr.  Routh's  further  objections  are  equally  self-contra- 
dictory or  altogether  futile  and  frivolous.  We  have  Been 
that  he  asserts  that  because  the  Homoeopathic  hospitals 
have  a  larger  number  of  patients  annually  in  proportion 
to  their  number  of  beds,  therefore  their  cases  are  not  simi- 
lar to  those  in  the  old  hospitals.  We  infer  that  they  are 
more  quickly  cured.  On  the  other  hand,  he  complains 
that  the  pneumonia  cases  remain  on  an  average  too  long 
in  the  hospital:  may  we  not  rather  conclude  that  this  ap- 
parently increased  time  arises  really  from  fewer  of  the 
cases  dying?  It  is  death  which  shortens  the  period  for 
these  cases  in  Allopathic  hospitals.  Again,  from  the  fact  that 
the  cases  get  cured  quickly,  it  is  concluded  that  they  are 
not  genuine.  Is  not  this  again  taking  for  granted  the  thing 
to  be  proved?  Is  it  not  much  more  reasonable  to  draw  an 
inference  in  favor  of  the  treatment  from  such  speedy  re- 
coveries ?  What  will  be  thought  of  attributing  the  cures 
to  the  "humility  and  gentleness"  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  ? 
Their  "calm  aspect  of  religion  ;"  "the  beauty  observed  in 
their  persons,"  and  "  their  melodious  accents  ?"  What  sort 
of  a  corner  has  Dr.  Routh  been  driven  into,  that  he  must 
fight  with  such  weapons  as  these  ?  Does  lie  feel  his  gallant 
ship  sinking  beneath  him,  that  he  is  catching  at  straws  I 

The  statistics  are  genuine.  The  very  existence  of  a  Ho- 
moeopathic Hospital  in  Vienna  is  itself  a  convincing  proof 
of  the  superior  value  of  the  new  treatment.  It  was  because 
Dr.  Fleischmann,  when  the  Asiatic  cholera  raged  in  Vienna, 
cured  double  the  number  that  were  saved  under  the  old 
system,  that  the  Emperor  removed  the  restrictions  that 
had  previously  been  imposed  upon  the  practice  of  Homoeo- 
pathy in  his  dominions,  and  established  the  hospital  which 
has  since  been  the  principal  school  of  Homoeopathy  for 
Europe.  Had  Dr.  Routh's  objections  been  sufficiently 
weighty  to  destroy  our  confidence  and  our  hopes  thus  ex- 
cited in  Homoeopathy,  we  might  indeed  have  greatly  re- 
gretted it  for  humanity's  sake,  but  we  must  have  bowed  to 
the  conclusion.  If,  however,  as  I  think  my  readers  will  by 
this  time  have  been  convinced,  they  hive  rather  been 
"frivolous  and  vexatious,"  we  may  cheerfully  dismiss  them, 
and  thankfully  indulge  our  hopes  that  this  improved  me- 
thod of  treating  all  our  bodily  ailments  will  become  in- 
creasingly beneficial  to  mankind.  Hard  indeed  must  that, 
heart  be  that  will  not  rejoice  at  such  a  prospect  as  this ! 

It  appears  then  with  respect  to  the   principle   of  "  like 


20  THK  DEFENCE 

curing  like,"  it  is  admitted  to  a  considerable  extent  by  our 
opponents,  as  indeed  it  was  by  Hippocrates  himself,  em- 
phatically and  deservedly  recognized  as  the  Father  of 
Medicine  ;  and  that  no  reason  has,  as  yet,  been  shown, 
sufficient  to  set  aside  the  proofs  in  favor  of  its  being  re- 
ceived as  a  general  rule  of  universal  application. 

That  with  respect  to  the  efficacy  of  small  doses,  this  is 
also  admitted  to  the  extent  that  it  has  been  practically 
tested : — so  far  as  the  small  doses  have  been  tried,  they 
have  been  found  to  act  satisfactorily.  Now  as  Dr.  Routh 
himself  contends  that  "  we  have  no  right  to  argue  a  priori" 
(page  12)  we  feel  justified  in  asserting  that  a  priori  or 
theoretical  objections  to  doses  which  have  not  been  tried, 
are  of  no  force,  and  may  safely  be  disregarded,  and  at  once 
rejected. 

That  with  regard  to  the  administration  of  medicines  we 
learn  from  our  opponents  in  the  most  conclusive  and  self- 
evident  manner,  not  only  the  inefficiency,  but  the  positive- 
ly hurtful  nature  of  the  usual  treatment  by  large  doses ; 
and  that  with  regard  to  the  statistics  which  speak  so  loudly 
and  so  unequivocally  in  favor  of  Homoeopathy,  we  have 
seen  that  the  objections  brought  against  them  are  not  of 
sufficient  validity  to  shake  our  confidence  in  their  truth. 

In  conclusion,  the  published  statistics  of  Homoeopathy 
are  important  in  themselves,  and  of  value  to  medical  prac- 
titioners, either  as  preliminary  information,  to  induce  them 
to  study  Homoeopathy,  seeing  that  by  them  at  least  a  prima 
facie  case  for  inquiry  is  made  out,  or  as  a  confirmation  to 
their  own  private  trials  on  the  subject,  if  the  information 
come,  as  it  no  doubt  often  does,  after  that  private  examina- 
tion has  been  made.  Still  the  main  reliance  is  to  be 
placed  upon  what  happens  in  our  hands,  and  under  our 
own  eyes.  Whatever  charges  of  unfairness  or  fraud  may 
be  brought  against  other  persons,  we  know  whether  we  are 
sincere  ourselves  or  not.  The  subject  is  too  serious,  and 
the  consequences  too  important  to  each  individual  practi- 
tioner, to  allow  him  to  be  careless  in  his  own  proceedings. 
He  is  almost  necessarily  cautious,  and  awake  to  all  the 
sources  of  fallacy  to  which  he  may  be  exposed.  He  pro- 
cures the  books  and  reads  them,  he  obtains  the  medicines, 
and  with  intense  interest  tries  them  ;  he  expects  them  to 
fail,  he  is  almost  sure  he  shall  be  able  to  prove  that  the 
thing  is  a  delusion.  He  selects  simple  cases  at  first,  both 
for  his  patient's  sake  and  his  own,  the  remedies  apparent- 
ly act  beyond  his  expectation,  at  any  rate  the  patients 
quickly  recover,  better  and  more  speedily  than  if  he  had 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY. 


given  them  his  usual  doses.  He  reasons  thus: — even  if 
the  medicines  have  done  nothing,  the  patients  have  been 
gainers,  they  have  been  spared  the  taking  nauseous  physic, 
perhaps  the  loss  of  blood,  or  the  pain  of  a  blister,  and  they 
have  speedily  recovered;  so  that  supposing  it  has  been 
diet  and  regimen,  it  is  evident  that  diet  and  regimen  do 
better  without  drugs  than  with  them.  This  point  becomes 
settled,  that  drugging,  and  bleeding,  and  blistering  are  bad. 
By  degrees  more  serious  cases  are  tried  ;  cases,  snch  as 
croup,  where  diet  and  regimen  are  out  of  the  question,  see- 
ing that  if  relief  be  not  speedily  afforded,  death  must 
ensue  ;  and  how  does  the  conviction  of  the  efficacious  action 
of  the  medicines  then  flash  upon  the  mind !  When  a  violent 
paroxysm  of  croup  passes  off  in  an  hour  under  the  in- 
fluence of  mild  doses  of  aconite  and  hepar-sulphuris  and 
spongia,  without  the  warm  baths,  and  emetics,  and  leeches 
and  blisters,  which  before  were  considered  indispensable  ; 
when  an  equally  violent  fit  of  tic-doloreux  yields  in  a  few 
moments  to  the  appropriate  remedy ;  when  inflammation 
of  the  brain  yields  to  belladonna,  and  inflammation  of  the 
lungs  subsides  rapidly  under  phosphorus ;  again,  when 
hands  covered  with  warts  are  cleared  of  them  in  a  few 
weeks,  without  cutting  and  caustic,  which  did  not  remove 
them:  when  such  universally  fatal  diseases  as  diabetes 
(sugared  urine)  are,  if  not  absolutely  cured,  at  least  so 
greatly  relieved,  that  life  is  prolonged  for  years ;  what 
further  proof  does  he  require  to  convince  him  of  power- 
ful medicinal  action  in  the  remedies  employed?  What 
then  is  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  the  anxious  but  patient 
and  persevering  inquirer?  That  IfomcBopathy  is  a  boon 
to  mankind  from  the  Gioer  of  all  goody  and  that  if  is  his 
duty  to  embrace  it,  and  to  advocate  its  cause  to  the  best  of 
his  ability. 


Rugby,  August  12th,  1853. 


Cnuls  ok  pomtMjaijfg.^j 

THE  TRUTH 

OF 

HOMGSOPAT  II  Y. 

BY  WILLIAM  SHARP,  M.D.  F.R.S. 

BOERICKE  &  TAFEL: 
NEW  YORK,                          PHILADELPHIA, 

No.  145  GRAND  STREET.                          No.  1011  ARCH  STREET. 

"The  Poet  that  beautified  the  sect,  that  was  otherwise  inferior  to  the  rest,  saith  yet  ex- 
cellently well.  'It  is  a  pleasure  to  stand  upon  the  shore,  and  to  see  a  ship  tossed  upon  the 
sea  ;  a  pleasure  to  stand  in  the  window  of  a  castle,  to  see  a  battle,  and  the  adventures 
thereof  below  ;  but  no  pleasure  is  comparable  to  the  standing  upon  the  vantage  ground  ol 
truth,  (a  hill  not  to  be  commanded,  and  where  the  air  is  always  clear  and  serene,)  and  to 
see  the  errors  and  wanderings,  and  mists  and  tempests,  in  the  vale  below  .'  so  always  that 
this  prospect  be  with  pity,  and  not  with  swelling  or  pride." 

Lord  Bacon. 


*\ 


THE  TRUTH  OF  nOM(EOPATHT. 

"True  philosophers,  who  are  only  eager  for  truth  and  knowledge,  never  regard  them- 
selves as  already  so  thoroughly  informed,  but  that  they  welcome  farther  information  from 
whomsoever  and  from  whencesoever  it  may  come  ;  nor  are  they  so  narrow-minded  as  to 
imagine  any  of  the  arts  or  sciences  transmitted  to  us  by  the  ancients,  in  such  a  stale  of  for- 
wardness or  completeness,  that  nothing  is  left  for  the  ingenuity  and  industry  of  others.*' 

William  Harvey. 

"Trial,"  says  Sir  William  Blackstone,  "is  the  examina- 
tion of  the  matter  of  fact  in  issue ;  of  which  there  are  many 
different  species,  according  to  the  difference  of  the  suhject 
or  thing  to  be  tried.  .  .  .  This  being  the  one  invariable 
principle  pursued,  that  as  well  the  best  method  of  trial,  as 
the  best  evidence  upon  that  trial,  which  the  nature  of  the 
case  affords,  and  no  other  shall  be  admitted." 

••Evidence,"  says  the  same  authority,  "signifies  that  which 
demonstrates,  makes  clear,  or  ascertains  the  truth  of  the 
very  fact  or  point  in  issue,  either  on  the  one  side  or  on  the 
other;  and  no  evidence  ought  to  be  admitted  to  any  other 
point." 

The  laws  of  nature  are  general  facts  ascertained  to  be  so 
by  inference  or  induction  from  a  great  multitude  ofjwrti- 
cular  facts.  They  are  discovered,  and  their  truth  proved 
and  maintained,  by  examining  them  as  matters  of  fact. 
They  are  tried  by  the  best  method,  and  on  the  best  evidence 
which  the  nature  of  the  case  admits. 

It  is  the  distinguished  prerogative  of  a  few  individuals 
to  discover  them,  but  when  once  announced  they  are  open 
to  the  senses  and  understanding  of  all  men;  they  are  put 
to  the  test  of  daily  experiment  and  observation,  and  were 
they  not  true,  the  facts  which  contradict  them  would  not 
fail  to  be  speedily  discovered. 

Every  department  of  nature  which  has  hitherto  been  suc- 
cessfully studied,  so  as  to  constitute  it  a  science,  lias  been 
founded  upon  one  of  these  general  facts  or  laws  of  nature. 
This  is  the  pole-star  around  which  all  the  minor  facts  har- 
moniously turn.     For  example : — 

The  law  of  specific  gravity,  or  the  relative  weighl  of 
bodies,  was  discovered  by  Archimedes,  on  the  occasion  of 
plunging  himself  into  a  bath,  and,  as  is  familiarly  known, 
so  great  was  his  delight  that  he  ran  about  in  an  ecstasy, 
crying  out  "I  have  have  found  it — I  have  found  it!"'  It 
consists  of  two  facts:  1st. —  When  a  solid  hod;/  is  plunged 
into  a  liqiiid,  it  displaces  an  amount   of  liquid  (quid  in 


4  THE    TRUTH 

bulk  to  its  own  "bulk.  2dly. — The  solid  body  so  plunged  into 
a  liquid,  loses  in  its  weight  an  amount  exactly  equal  to  the 
weight  of  the  liquid  which  it  has  displaced. 

The  law  which  is  the  basis  of  Mechanics  was  discovered 
by  Galileo; — The  less  force  equals  the  greater  by  moving 
through  more  space  in  the  same  time. 

The  law  of  gravitation,  upon  which  Astronomy  is  founded, 
was  discovered  by  Newton; — All  bodies  attract  each  other 
directly  as  the  mass,  and  inversely  as  the  square  of  the 
distance.  This  is  commonly  regarded  as  a  mathematical 
demonstration,  but  it  rests,  in  reality,  upon  careful  experi- 
ments and  accurate  observation, — like  the  others,  it  is  a  fact 
proved  when  put  upon  its  appropriate  mode  of  trial,  by 
satisfactory  evidence. 

The  law  which  is  the  foundation  of  the  science  of  Hydro- 
statics, and  which  has  lately  been  so  beautifully  applied 
to  a  very  useful  practical  purpose  in  the  Bramah  prest,  was 
discovered  by  the  successive  experiments  of  the  three  great 
men  just  mentioned,  Archimedes,  Galileo,  and  Newton.  It 
may  be  thus  expressed ; — in  a  ?nass  of  liquid  each  particle 
p /-esses  equally  in  all  directions. 

The  laws  of  Kepler,  as  they  are  called  from  their  dis- 
coverer, which  are  three  important  general  facts  in  Astro- 
nomy. 1st. — The  orbits  of  the  planets  are  ellipses,  with  the 
sun  in  one  of  the  foci.  2d. — The  planets  move  over  cqucd 
areas  in  equal  times.  3d. — The  squares  of  the  times  of  revo- 
lution of  any  two  planets  are  to  each  other,  in  the  same  pres- 
portion  as  the  cubes  of  their  mean  distances  from  the  sun. 
"Of  all  the  laws,"  says  Sir  John  Herschel,  "to  which  induc- 
tion from  pure  observation  has  ever  conducted  man,  this 
third  Law  of  Kepler  may  justly  be  regarded  as  the  most 
remarkable,  and  the  most  pregnant  with  important  conse- 
quences." 

The  fact  in  Physiology  that  all  the  higher  animals  are 
furnished  with  a  heart  and  blood-vessels  through  which  a 
double  circulation  of  the  blood  is  unceasingly  carried  on, 
first  through  the  lungs,  and  afterwards  through  the  rest  <f 
the  body  ;  this  was  the  discovery  of  our  illustrious  Harvey, 
who  for  his  pains  was  set  down  as  crazy,  and  lost  nearly  all 
his  practice. 

The  law  for  the  knowledge  of  which,  we  are  indebted  to 
the  indefatigable  labors  of  Dalton,  and  which  has  given  rise 
to  the  modern  science  of  Chemistry;  Ekmentary  or  simple 
bodies  combine  with  each  othet ,  iofomi  compound  bodies,  in 
definite  or  fixed  proportions. 

The  law  of  storms,  ascertained  by  Col.  Eeid,  which  is  one 


OF    HOMCEOPATHY.  5 

of  the  most  recent  of  these  valuable  discoveries; — They 
'move  in  a  circle. 

All  these,  and  other  similar  truths  are  general  pactsj 
which  have  been  put  upon  their  trial,  and  have  stood  the 
test.  They  have  been  supported  by  sufficient  evidence 
suited  to  the  nature  of  each  case.  Before  they  were  known 
the  departments  to  which  they  severally  belong  were  cha- 
racterized by  blunders  and  guesswork,  into  which  they  have 
introduced  method  and  certainty. 

The  practical  value  of  this  kind  of  knowledge,  may  in 
part  be  learned  by  comparing  the  present  condition  of  the 
arts  with  that  previous  to  the  discovery  of  these  laws. 
Had  the  Romans  known  the  law  which  regulates  the  flow 
of  liquids,  they  would  have  been  spared  the  vast  labor  of 
erecting  those  magnificent  aqueducts  for  the  supply  of  their 
cities  with  water,  whose  ruins  so  greatly  excite  our  surprize 
and  admiration  at  the  present  day.  Our  navigation  hangs 
upon  the  faithfulness  of  the  magnetized  bar  in  turning 
towards  the  north;  our  steam  engines  depend  upon  the 
elasticity  of  vapor;  our  railways  on  the  laws  of  friction; 
our  instantaneous  communication  at  any  distance  on  the 
influence  which  a  current  of  electricity  exerts  over  a  mag- 
netic needle, — that  beautiful  discovery  of  Oersted,  For 
nearly  all  our  modern  comforts,  for  nearly  everything  which 
distinguishes  the  present  from  preceding  ages,  we  are  in- 
debted to  the  discovery  of  such  natural  truths  as  these. 

Many  departments  of  human  knowledge  are  now  in  pos- 
session of  such  principles,  and  the  consequence  of  having 
them  for  their  foundation  is  unanimity  of  sentiment  among 
the  cultivators  of  the  science,  and  the  continual  and  satis- 
factory progress  of  their  pursuits.  The  want  of  such  a 
foundation  may  be  certainly  concluded,  with  regard  to  any 
subject  upon  which  there  is  great  diversity  of  opinion,  many 
hypothetical  speculations,  and  no  improvement  or  advance 
toward  a  successful  issue. 


Thus  much  has  been  said  by  way  of  introduction,  that  the 
meaning  of  the  expressions,  law  of  nature,  general  fact,  or 
principle  may  be  clearly  understood;  that  the  high  value 
of  such  knowledge  may  be  aip  eciated;  and  that  the  im- 
portance of  ascertaining  whetner  the  art  of  healing  be  fur- 
nished with  such  a  foundation  or  not,  may  be  strongly  felt. 

With  these  preliminary  explanations  we  may  now  pro- 
ceed to  examine  the  actual  condition  of  Medicine. 

The  efforts  made  to  relieve  diseases  have  been,  hitherto, 
either  superstitious,  or  theoretical,  or  empirical. 


6  THE  TRUTH 

Of  superstitious  practices  many  examples  might  be  given. 
I  will  mention  only  two.  In  China  and  Japan,  the  Ermites 
profess  to  heal  the  greater  number  of  complaints  by  depo- 
siting before  their  idols,  a  description  of  the  disease  in 
peculiar  characters,  and  afterwards  making  up  the  paper 
containing  it  into  pills,  which  they  gave  the  patient  to  take. 
The  "  sympathetic  powder"  of  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  was  very 
famous  for  a  long  period.  This  powder  healed  all  manner 
of  wounds  by  being  applied  to  the  weapon  by  which  the 
wound  had  been  inflicted.  Our  poets  and  imaginative 
writers  often  allude  to  this  piece  of  folly.  Sir  Walter  Scott 
says  in  the  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel  :• 

"  But  she  has  ta'en  the  broken  lance, 
And  washed  it  from  the  clotted  gore, 
And  salved  the  splinter  o'er  and  o'er, 
William  of  Deloraine  in  trance 
Whene'er  she  turned  it  round  and  round 
Twisted  as  if  she  galled  his  wound. 
Then  to  her  maidens  she  did  say- 
That  he  should  be  whole  man  and  sound. " 

Canto  HI.  St.  23. 

The  theoretical  method  has  always  been  extensively 
practised.  Diseases  in  the  days  of  Hippocrates  were  hot 
or  cold,  moist  or  dry.  Remedies  of  course  were  the  same  ; 
a  hot  remedy  was  to  be  applied  to  a  cold  disease,  a  moist 
one  to  a  dry,  and  vice  versa.  Hence  the  favorite  maxim  of 
Galen,  "  contraria  contrariis  curantur,"  diseases  are  to  be 
treated  with  contraries.  Of  late  we  have  had  excessive  and 
diminished  irritability  to  be  treated  respectively  with 
calmers  and  stimulants. — (Brown.)  Spasms  of  the  extreme 
vessels,  to  be  cured  by  so-called  anti-spasmodics. — (Cullen.) 
All  diseases  attributed  to  local  inflammation, — the  universal 
remedy,  local  depletion. — (Broussais.)  Such,  and  number- 
less other  hypotheses  have  been  imagined  by  ingenious 
men  in  their  closets ;  have  been  eloquently  propounded  in 
in  their  lecture-rooms;  have  been  greedily  embraced  by 
numerous  classes  of  admiring  followers ;  and  have,  each  in 
succession,  been  supplanted  by  the  next  invention,  and 
sunk  into  contempt  and  oblivion. 

To  the  empirical  treatment  of  diseases  some  have  thus, 
in  all  ages,  been  driven.  Sensible  of  the  futility  and  use- 
lessness  of  hypotheses  at  the  bed-side  of  their  patients, 
these  practitioners  have  sought  to  be  guided  by  experience 
only;  though,  in  spite  of  this  conviction  and  intention, 
they  have  continued  to  speculate  upon  the  nature  and 
causes  of  diseases.  These  constitute  the  eminent  physicians 
and  surgeons  of  the  present  day.     They  reject  all  idea  of  a 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  7 

general  principle  for  their  guidance  in  the  administration 
ot  remedies— they  even  deny  its  possibility.     The  head  of 
their  public  bodies,  the  present  President  of  the  Royal  (  Al- 
lege of  Physicians,  (Dr.  Paris)  asserted  no  long  time  ago 
in  a  public  lecture,  that  medicine  is  "incapable  of  general 
lization."*     The  consequence  of  this  unsettled  condition  is 
the  utmost  confusion  and  contradi  turn,  and  gnat  want  of 
success  in  the  present  practice  of  physic.     This  is  admitted 
by  nearly  every  writer  of  credit.     Dr.  Adams,  the  learned 
translator  of  Hippocrates,  says,  "one   cannot  think  of  the 
change  in  professional   opinions  since   the  days  of  John- 
Hunter,  (at  the  close  of  the  last  century,)  without  the  most 
painful   feeling    of  dLtru.st  in  all  modes  of  treatment? 
Again,  the   same   writer  observes,  "Now-a-d'ays  we  have 
abandoned  all  general  rules  of  practice,  and  profess  to  be 
guided  solely  by  experience ;    but  how  variable  and  uncer- 
tain are  its  results!    I  myself,  albeit  but  verging  towards 
the  decline  of  life,  can  well  remember  the  time  when  a 
physician  would  have  run  the  risk  of  being  indict  d  far 
culpable  homicide  if  hi  had  ventured  to  bleed  a  patu  nt  in 
common  fever.     About  twenty-five  years  ago,  venesection 
in  fever,  and  in  almost  every  disease,  was  the  established 
order  of  the  day;  and  now  what  shall  I  state  as  the  general 
practice  that  has  been  sanctioned  by  the  experience  of  the 
present  generation?    /  can  scarcely  say, — so  variable  lias 
the  practice  in   fever,  and  in  many  other  diseases,  become 
of  late  years."!     How  like  the  complaint  made  by  Hippo- 
crates himself,  twenty-two  centuries  ago!    "The  whole  art 
is  exposed  to  much  censure  from  the  vulgar,  who  fancy  that 
really  there  is  no  such  science  as  medicine,  since,  even  in 
acute  diseases,  practitioners  differ  so  much  among  them- 
selves, that  those  things  which  one  administers,  as  th  'nk  ng 
it  the  best  that  can  be  g'vev,  another  holds  to  b    bad"  Galen 
quotes  and  confirms  this,  and  thus  is  it  confessed,  both  by 
ancient  and  modern  authorities,  that  so-called  legitimate 
medicine  is  little  better  than  a  mass  of  contradiction  and 
confusion.     A  remedy  is  found,  perhaps  accidentally,  to  do 
good,  and  it  is  therefore  given  in  other  cases  which  appear 
to  be  like  to  one  it  has  cured.     This  plan  sometimes  suc- 
ceeds, but  it  also  often  fails,  and  always  when  it  fails,  and 
often  when  it  succeeds,  the  constitution   is  injured  by  the 
large  doses  and  other  severe  treat ',,,,  ,,t. 

*  Paris's  Pharmacologia. 

f  Adams — Translation  of   Hippocrates,   Vol.    1,  pp.  278,  280,  307, 
Sydenham  Society's  Edition. 


8  THE   TRUTH 

Such  has  hitherto  been  the  miserable  condition  of  the 
practice  of  Physic.  In  successive  ages,  reflecting  men  have 
mourned  over  this  condition,  and  earnestly  desired  to  dis- 
cover some  general  and  guiding  fact  upon  which  the  art  of 
healing  might  be  based. 

How  remarkable  are  these  words  of  Sydenham,  justly 
styled  the  Father  of  English  Medicine,  "  The  method  where- 
by in  my  opinion,  the  art  of  medicine  may  be  advanced ; 
turns  chiefly  upon  what  follows,  viz. :  that  there  must  be 
some  fixed,  definite,  and  consummate  method  of  healing, 
of  which  the  commonweal  may  have  the  advantage.  By 
fixed,  definite  and  consummate,  I  mean  a  line  of  practice 
which  has  been  based  and  built  upon  a  sufficient  number 
of  experiments,  and  has  in  that  manner  been  proved  com- 
petent to  the  cure  of  this  or  that  disease."* 

At  different  epochs,  and  by  various  writers  from  Demo- 
critus  and  Hippocrates  downwards,  something  like  the  prin- 
ciple "  similia  similibus  curantur,"  likes  are  to  be  treated 
with  likes,  has  been  feebly  enunciated,  but  we  are  indebted 
to  Hahnemann,  a  German  of  the  last  generation,  for  so 
powerfully  and  perseveringly  announcing,  it  as  to  have 
gained  for  it  the  attention  of  mankind. 

This  proposition  has  now  been  put  forth  in  such  a  strong 
and  urgent  manner,  as  to  demand  an  investigation  by  every 
medical  man  who  is  conscientiously  desirous  of  doing  all 
the  good  he  can  to  his  suffering  fellow-creatures.  It  does 
not  seem  to  have  anything  in  itself  which  must  necessarily 
excite  disgust  or  opposition ;  it  is  no  theory  of  disease :  it 
does  not  pretend  to  explain  the  mode  of  action  of  medi- 
cines ;  it  professes  to  be  a  fact  upon  which  a  method  of 
cure  may  be  founded.  It  suggests  that  the  true  properties 
of  drugs  can  he  discovered  only  by  experiments  on  the 
healthy  body  of  ma?),  and  that  whatever  symptoms  of  dis- 
ease are  thus  produced  are  the  true  guides  to  the  use  of  the 
remedy ;  for  that  it  must  be  given  only  in  such  natural 
diseases  as  are  attended  with  symptoms  like  those  produced 
by  the  drug  in  the  healthy  person. 

This  then  is  "  the  Fact  in  issue?  to  be  upon  its  trial. 
And  we  are  to  remember  the  legal  principle  "  that  as  well 
the  best  method  of  trial,  as  the  best  evidence  upon  that 
trial,  which  the  nature  of  the  case  affords,  and  no  other, 
shall  be  admitted." 

"Likes  are  to  be  treated  with  likes!"  This  is  the  asser- 
tion.    The  only  trial  upon  which  a  statement  such  as  this 

*  Works  of  Sydenham,  Vol.  1,  p.  17,  Sydenham  Society's  Edition. 


OF    HOMOEOPATHY.  9 

can  be  fairly  put,  is  the  trial  by  experiment.  This  must 
be  obvious.  To  argue  about  it  would  be  foolish,  and  a 
waste  of  time.  To  experiment  upon  it  is  rational.  I  pro- 
pose therefore  now  to  give  the  evidence  adduced  upon  such 
atrial  in  my  own  hands.  It  has  occupied  my  attention 
more  than  three  years;  it  has  been  made  in  candor  and 
good  faith,  and  with,  I  think,  all  the  conditions  requisite  foj 
drawing  a  legitimate  conclusion. 

It  has  been  made  in  many  cases  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  patient,  and,  therefore,  to  the  exclusion  of  any  pos- 
sible influence  from  the  imagination. 

It  has  been  made  under  a  much  greater  variety  of  cir- 
cumstances, and  upon  patients  in  more  diversified  ranks, 
ages,  andconstitutions,  than  can  meet  together  in  the  wards 
of  a  hospital. 

It  has  been  made,  very  much,  with  medicines  whose  in- 
jurious or  poisonous  symptoms,  or  effects  in  health,  were 
previously  well  known  to  me;  these  poisonous  symptoms 
or  effects  in  health  having  been  learned  without  any  refe- 
rence to  the  medicinal  or  curative  effects  of  the  same  drug 
in  disease. 

It  has  been  made  with  doses  of  all  kinds,  not  only  with 
the  infinitesimal  ones,  now  commonly  adopted  by  Homoeo- 
pathists,  but  with  palpable  and  ponderable  quantities  of 
the  substances  so  tried. 

And  lastly,  I  have  had  the  advantage  of  comparing  the 
results  of  the  new  method  so  obtained,  with  those  in  my 
own  hands  under  the  old  practice  during  a  successful  pro- 
fessional career  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Perhaps  it  will  surprize  some  of  my  readers  to  hear  of 
"ponderable"  doses  in  homoeopathy,  but  when  the  investi- 
gation of  the  truth  of  the  principle  of  Homoeopathy  la 
being  made,  these  are  the  first  materials  for  experiment 
If  twenty  grains  of  ipecacuanha  will  make  a  strong  man 
sick,  and  if  the  twentieth  part  of  a  grain  will  cure  a  sick 
man  of  his  vomiting,  we  have  two  eases  which  can  !»<• 
fairly  compared; — we  know  that  we  are  dealing  with  the 
same  physical  agent. 

But  though  large  doses  must  in  the  first  instance  be  tried, 
the  investigation  cannot  end  with  them.  For  if,  as  is  un- 
questionably true,  an  inconceivably  small  quantity,  or  in 
other  words  an  infinitesimal  dose  of  this  substance,  ipe- 
cacuanha, can  produce  the  symptoms  of  catarrh,  or  of 
asthma,  so  severe  as  to  threaten  the  loss  of  life;  *  and  if 
similarly  3mall   doses   of  the  same  drug  can  cure   similar 

*  For  proofs  of  this  statement  see  another  of  these  Tracts. 


10  THE    TRUTH 

and  equally  violent  symptoms,  when  they  have  arisen  from 
other  causes,  the  trial  must  be  carried  into  these  much 
ridiculed  but  highly  interesting  regions.  Thus  the  inquiry 
into  the  operation  of  this  principle  "similia  similibiis 
curantur,"  likes  are  to  be  treated  with  likes — can  be  pur- 
sued to  a  much  greater  extent  than,  at  first  sight,  would 
have  been  thought  possible.  We  must  follow  where  nature 
Jeads  if  we  would  know  her  truths.  If  minute  particles 
of  matter  can  act  upon  the  body  so  as  to  injure  health, — 
it  is  possible  that  similarly  minute  particles  of  matter  may 
also  act  upon  the  body  so  as  to  restore  its  healthy  state, — 
and  if  this  be  so,  the  two  actions  may  be  compared  with 
each  other.  On  these,  as  on  all  similar  subjects  of  human 
knowledge,  nature  is  to  be  interrogated  by  experiments,  and 
the  answers  returned,  if  carefully  observed,  and  honestly 
recorded,  are  the  evidence  which  "makes  clear  or  ascertains 
the  truth  of  the  very  fact  or  point  in  issue,  either  on  one 
side  or  the  other." 

What  are  medicines?  They  are  poisors.  All  substances 
may  be  divided,  with  reference  to  their  a  t  n  on  the  human 
body,  into  those  which  are  nutritious,  an^.  those  which  are 
more  or  less  noxious, — into  food  and  poison.  It  is  the 
latter  class  which  furnish  us  with  medicines.  These  act  in- 
juriously in  health — remedially  in  disease;  this  is  Homoeo- 
pathy in  the  general;  the  following  cases  will  show  that 
Homoeopathy  is  also  true  when  carried  into  particulars. 


CASES. 

POISONS  FROM  THE  MINERAL  KINGDOM. 

ANTIMONY— INFLAMMATION. 

It  is  known  to  medical  men  that  Tartarized  Antimony, 

when  taken  in  poisonous  doses,  produces  inflammation  of 

the  lungs.     It  has  been   given  in  large  doses  by  allopathic 

physicians  as  a  remedy  in  similar  inflammations. 

I  have  seen  an  infant  suffering  from  an  attack  of  in- 
flammation so  severe  as  to  threaten  a  very  speedy  termina- 
tion in  paralysis  of  the  lungs  and  death,  recover  in  a  few 
hours,  while  having  administered  to  it  small  doses  of  this 
preparation  of  Antimony. 


ARSENIC— INFLAMMATION— ERUPTIONS. 

The  prominent  mischief  which  a  few  grains  of  Arsenic 
produces  is  inflammation  of  the  stomach  and  bowels.  I 
have   twice   tried  this  substance  as  a  remedy  in  acute  in- 


flammation of  these  organs  with  success. 


OF    HOMOEOPATHY.  11 

Arsenic  also  so  often  produces  eruptions  on  the  skin  that 
they  have  received  a  name; — eczema  arsemcale.  Arsenic 
is  often  given  as  a  remedy  for  similar  eruptions  hy  practi- 
tioners of  the  old  school.  The  preparation  in  the  Pharma- 
copoeia is  called  "  Solution  of  Arsenite  of  Potash ;"  it  is 
given  in  doses  of  from  eight  drops  to  half  a  drachm,  which 
latter  quantity  contains  about  a  quarter  of  a  grain  of  ar- 
senic. Injurious  effects  have  often  been  occasioned  by 
these  medicinal  doses.  Four  grains,  or  less,  being  sufficient 
to  destroy  life.*  I  have  seen  great  benefit  from  this 
mineral  in  obstinate  affections  of  the  skin,  when  given  in 
such  small  doses  as  would  not  be  at  all  likely  to  produce 
unpleasant  consequences  in  any  constitution. 


COPPER— CRAMP. 

Copper  produces  "pain  in  the  abdomen  with  diarrhoea; 
and  in  aggravated  cases,  spasms  of  the  extremities.* 

I  have  seen  Copper  quickly  relieve  cramp,  and  even  the 
most  violent  muscular  spasms. 


CORROSIVE-SUBLIMATE-DYSENTERY. 
That  this  poisonous  substance  produces  slimy,  green,  and 
bloody  evacuations  from  the  bowels,  exactly  resembling 
dysentery,  a  disease  having  similar  symptoms,  but  which 
have  arisen  from  other  causes,  is  a  fact  but  too  well  known. 
I  have  given  various  doses  of  it,  uncombined  with  opium,  in 
dysentery,  with  the  most  satisfactory  results ; — with  better 
success  than  that  which  attended  my  former  treatment 
One  striking  case  is  given  in  the  Tract,  entitled :  "What  is 
Homoeopathy  ?"     I  could  add  others  here. 


LEAD— CONSTIPATION— PARALYSIS. 

The  leading  symptom  produced  by  Leadjwheii  acting  as 
a  poison,  is  constipation.  * 

I  have  repeatedly  removed  chronic  constipation  by  this 
substance. 

Another  well  known  effect  of  Lend  is  numbness  ami 
paralysis;  I  have  seen  it  cure  a  case  of  tins  kind. 

MERCURY— MUMPS— SORE  THROAT— ERUPTH  INS. 

It  is  well  known  that  one  of  the  first  effects  of  M<  rcury 

is  to  act  upon  the  salivary  glands ;  if  therefore  there  be 

any  truth  in  the  law  of  "similia"  mercury  ought  to  be  a 

cure   for  mumps.     I  have  had  a  great  many  opportunities 

*  Taylor's  "Medical  Jurisprudence.1' 


12  THE    TRUTH 

of  putting  the  law  in  question  to  this  test,  and  I  can  with 
truth  affirm  that  in  every  instance  the  result  was  satisfac- 
tory. I  gave  nothing  hut  mercury  in  various  doses,  both 
ponderable  and  imponderable,  that  is,  both  in  ordinary  and 
in  infinitesimal  doses,  and  in  every  case  the  cure  was  rapid 
and  perfect.  It  must  be  understood  that  not  the  slightest 
local  application  of  any  kind  was  permitted  in  any  one  of 
the  cases.  The  patients  were  singularly  preserved  from  pain, 
and  there  were  none  of  the  sympathetic  affections  which 
not  unusually  accompany  this  complaint. 

It  is  equally  well  known  to  medical  men  that  mercury 
produces  affections  of  the  throat,  bones,  and  skin,  so  like 
the  diseases  of  those  parts  arising  from  other  causes,  that 
they  often  find  it  impossible  to  distinguish  the  one  from 
the  other,  or  to  decide  to  which  to  attribute  the  symptoms. 
What  could  be  more  striking  homoeopathicity  than  this  ? 
There  shall  be  two  patients  standing  side  by  side,  with 
ulcerated  throats,  swellings  on  the  bones,  and  eruptions  on 
the  skin,  in  the  one  caused  by  mercury,  and  in  the  other 
not,  and  the  most  experienced  surgeon  shall  be  puzzled  to 
say  which  is  the  mercurial  case  and  which  is  not.  Mercury 
given  to  these  cases  would  aggravate  the  one  whose  symp- 
toms were  owing  to  mercury,  while  it  would  almost  certainly 
cure  the  other. 


Phosphorus— inflammation. 

Two  grains,  and  in  another  case,  one  grain  and  a  half  of 
Phosphorus  have  been  known  to  kill,  by  causing  intense 
inflammation  of  the  stomach  and  bowels. 

In  May  last  I  was  requested  to  visit  the  following  case 
in  which  I  believe  the  most  severe  inflammation  of  these 
organs  existed.  A  lady  of  about  fifty  years  old  was  seized 
with  pain  in  the  stomach  on  the  Friday  evening,  on  Satur- 
day she  took  various  strong  doses  of  medicines  which 
caused  vomiting  and  purging,  but  which  gave  no  relief; 
the  pain  continued  to  increase,  and  on  Sunday  night,  when 
I  saw  her  for  the  first  time,  her  family  thought  she  was 
dying; — there  was  great  pain  and  tenderness  on  pressure, 
a  quick  and  small  pulse,  a  very  white  tongue,  with  some 
delirium,  an  anxious  and  sunken  countenance,  and  shoit 
breathing,  she  had  been  entirely  deprived  of  sleep  by  pain 
from  the  commencement  of  the  attack.  I  gave  a  small 
dose  of  Phosphorus,  and  in  about  a  minute  she  felt  easier; — 
in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  dose  wras  repeated,  and  she  im- 
mediately fell  asleep  for  two  hours  and  a  half;  after  a  third 


OF    HOMCEOPATHY.  13 

and  fourth  dose  she  slept  again;  in  a  few  days  was  con- 
valescent, and  in  a  fortnight  well. 

Among  other  inflammations  produced  by  Phosphorus, 
when.it  has  been  taken  in  poisonous  doses,  is  inflammation 
of  the  lungs.  I  have  treated  two  most  dangerous  attacks 
of  pleuro-pneumonia  with  this  substance; — one  a  young 
man,  aged  about  18,  in  March,  1851,  who  had  been  ill  some 
days  before  I  saw  him,  and  who  continued  to  get  worse  for 
three  days  until  I  gave  him  phosphorus.  He  had  severe 
pain,  respirations  from  40  to  48  in  the  minute,  pulse  120, 
cough  frequent,  expectoration  tinged  with  blood,  and  great 
prostration,  with  the  stethoscopic  signs  of  inflammation 
within  the  chest.  In  less  than  a  fortnight  this  young  man 
was  cured,  and  he  continues  still  (July,  1853)  perfectly 
well, — no  trace  of  mischief  remaining  in  his  chest.  He 
very  nearly  died,  and  yet  the  treatment  was  ultimately 
successful,  not  only  in  affording  palliative  relief  but  in 
effecting  a  radical  cure.  I  feel  a  moral  certainty  that  had 
he' been  treated  with  bleeding  and  blistering,  purgatives, 
salines  and  antimonials,  he  would  have  died,  if  not  im- 
mediately, (which  I  believe  would  have  been  the  case,)  at 
any  rate  from  the  chronic  disease  which  by  this  method 
would  have  been  left  behind.  The  time  seemed  long  during 
which  my  anxiety  continued,  but  after  all,  it  did  not  extend 
to  a  fortnight,  and  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  disease 
had  been  allowed  to  gather  strength  for  nearly  a  week  be- 
fore anything  was  done  to  check  it.  I  am  justified  by  the 
result  in  considering  this  case  as  a  striking  proof  of  the 
efficacy  of  the  new  remedies  in  such  an  acute  and  highly 
dangerous  disease  as  pneumonia  is  universally  considered. 

The  other  case,  also  a  young  man,  aged  about  16,  of  a 
consumptive  family,  was  still  more  striking;  it  occurred  to 
me  in  March,  1852.  All  the  symptoms  of  violent  pleuro- 
pneumonia, were  fully  and  very  rapidly  developed,  and  for 
some  hours  he  was  in  great  danger.  Almost  the  only  re- 
medy administered  was  phosphorus,  in  small  doses,  and 
before  the  end  of  the  week  he  was  quite  convalescent ; — 
the  physical  (stethoscopic)  signs  of  disease  disappeared  in 
about  another  fortnight,  and  he  also  has  continued  ever 
since  in  perfect  health.  I  am  persuaded  that  had  this 
young  man  been  reduced  by  what  is  called  "active  treat- 
ment," his  constitution  would  have  been  broken  down,  and 
he  would  have  followed  his  sister,  through  a  painful  course 
of  suffering  to  an  early  grave. 

I  have  also  seen  the  most  strikingly  beneficial  results 
from  phosphorus  in  chronic  disease  of  the  lungs,  as  well  as 

•\ir\     \-\r\r\CM-\     or»-n+/i    r\c\  c*  r\cs 


14  THE  TRUTH 

SULPHUR— ERUPTIONS. 

Those  who  visit  Harrogate,  and  other  places  where  the 
waters  contain  Sulphur,  are  well  aware  that  eruptions  of 
a  very  irritating  character  are  not  unfrequently  produced 
by  drinking  the  waters.  Sulphur  is  notoriously  a  remedy 
for  similar  eruptions. 

I  have  seen  it,  when  given  in  small  doses,  both  produce 
and  cure  such  affections  of  the  skin.  No  one  dreams  that 
it  produces  the  itch  insect. 

POISONS  FROM  THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 

ACONITE— CROUP. 

Symptoms  similar  to  those  of  Croup  are  among  the  ill 
effects  of  Aconite  or  Morik?s  Hood. 

I  have  tried  the  new  treatment  in  several  cases  of  Croup 
with  very  remarkable  success. 

BELLADONNA— HEADACHE— SORE  THROAT. 

Among  the  poisonous  effects  of  the  Deadly  Nightshade 
are  heat  and  fever,  difficulty  of  swallowing  and  speaking, 
feeling  of  constriction  about  the  throat,  swelling  and  red- 
ness of  the  face  and  other  parts  of  the  skin,  dilatation  of 
the  pupils,  obscurity  of  vision,  suffusion  of  the  eyes5>  sing- 
ing in  the  ears,  confusion  of  the  head,  giddiness,  delirium, 
convulsions,  and  stupor  or  lethargy. 

In  a  variety  of  cases  both  slight  and  severe,  of  affections 
similar  in  their  symptoms  to  these  effects,  as  quinsy,  op- 
thalmia,  headache,  cases  threatening  to  end  n  water  in  the 
brain,  I  have  tested  the  remedial  powers  of  belladonna, 
and  have  not  often  been  disappointed.  In  two  cases  of 
threatened  hydrocephalus, — children,  in  different  families, 
a  child  in  each  family  having  previously  died  of  water  in 
the  head,  when  I  was  first  consulted,  it  was  feared  that 
these  would  die  in  the  same  manner,  but  they  both  speedi- 
ly recovered.  During  the  spring  of  this  year  I  have  had 
several  opportunities  of  giving  Belladonna  in  Scarlet  Fever, 
and  with  very  satisfactory  results.  It  is  well  known  that 
Hahnemann  was  the  first  to  point  it  out  both  as  a  remedy 
and  a  preservative  from  scarlet  fever:  this  he  had  been 
led  to  discover  by  the  resemblance  which  he  observed 
between  the  poisonous  effects  of  the  plant,  and  the  symp- 
toms of  that  disease.  I  am  tempted  to  give  the  following 
extract  from  the  "London  Medical  and  Physical  Journal" 
for  Sept.,  1824,  (the  most  respectable  allopathic  journal  of 
that  period,)  both  because  it  shows  the  admission  of  this 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  15 

discovery,  and  also  because  it  exhibits  a  better  feeling 
towards  Hahnemann  than  is  a  present  met  with  among  my 
allopathic  brethren. 

"  Belladonna  a  preventative  of  Scarlet  Fever. — It  has 
been  long  known  that  Dr.  Hahnemann,  of  Leipzig,  has  as- 
serted the  above  fact;  but  since  the  year  1818,  several 
practitioners  in  the  north  of  Europe  have  repeated  these 
experiments,  and  t/iey  find  them  founded  in  truth.  The 
first  of  these,  Dr.  Brendt,  of  Custrin,  affirms  that  all  who 
employed  this  remedy  escaped  the  infection;  and  his  ac- 
count is  corroborated  by  Dr.  Musbeck,  of  Demmin,  in 
Western  Pomerania,  .who  says  he  has  used  it  for  seven 
years,  and  with  equal  success;  he  administered  it  to  all 
those  who  dwelt  in  the  houses  where  scarlet  fever  prevailed, 
continuing  its  use  until  desquamation  of  the  cuticle  had 
taken  place  in  those  attacked.  Dr.  Dusterbourg,  of  War- 
bourg,  has  also  published  an  account  of  a  series  of  ex- 
periments confirming  these  statements;  and  several  sub- 
sequent memoirs  have  appeared  all  equally  corroborative 
of  this  virtue  in  the  belladonna." 

Medical  men  of  the  old  school  are  now  beginning  to 
assert  that  Belladonna  is  no  preseroathi  against  Scarlet 
Fever,  and  that  this  "  shews  the  utter  fallacy  of  their  (the 
Homoeopathists')  reasoning,  and  the  sandy  foundation  on 
which  they  build  their  views."  But  it  will  not  fail  to  be 
remarked  by  impartial  observers  that  such  assertions  come 
from  a  quarter  now  too  prejudiced  to  be  relied  upon,  and 
also  that,  even  supposing  them  to  be  correct,  they  prove 
nothing  against  Homoeopathy,  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  a 
system  of  prevention,  but  a  method  of  cure.  The  weight 
of  evidence  is  still  in  favor  of  the  preventive  powers  of 
Belladonna,  but  its  failure  will  bring  no  "fallacy"  into  the 
"reasoning,"  nor  "sand"  into  the  "foundation"  of  Homeo- 
pathy.   

BRYONIA— RHEUMATISM. 

White  Bryony  is  one  of  the  ancient  remedies  which,  like 
Hellebore,  has  been  discarded  from  modern  practice  on 
account  of  the  violence  of  its  action  when  given  in  the 
usual  large  doses.  Among  other  symptoms  it  produces 
those  resembling  rheumatism.  I  have  myself  twice  brought 
on  these  symptoms  with  bryony.  It  is  a  very  valuable  re- 
medy in  similar  cases. 

Rheumatism  is  generally  accompanied  by  an  acid  state 
of  the  secretions.  If  litmus  paper  be  applied  to  the  tongue, 
the  moist  skin,  &c,  while  a  patient  is  suffering  from  rheu- 


16  THE  TRUTH 

matic  pain,  it  will  commonly  be  reddened.  Knowing  this  I 
have  been  in  the  habit  for  some  time  of  treating  rheuma- 
tism with  alkalies,  both  internally  and  externally,  and  with 
so  much  better  success  than  when  formerly  bleeding,  &c. 
were  had  recourse  to,  that  I  was  reluctant  to  give  tLtm  up. 
A  case  occurred  in  Nov.,  1850,  which  first  induced  me  to 
do  so.  A  boy  about  12  years  old,  had  a  very  severe  attack 
of  rheumatic  fever.  I  pursued  my  usual  method  at  first, 
but  being  greatly  disappointed  with  it,  I  felt  justified  in 
substituting  the  new  remedies,  and  prescribed  a  dose  of 
Bryony  every  two  hours.  The  next  day  the  little  patient 
was  relieved  in  every  way;  the  pulse  had  fallen  from  120 
to  82 ;  the  pains  which  had  been  very  bad  in  the  wrist, 
elbows,  back,  and  abdomen,  were  gone ;  as  were  also  the 
swelling  and  redness,  and  the  following  day  he  was  con- 
valescent. His  father,  a  medical  man  of  distinction,  now 
arrived  from  a  distance,  together  with  his  mother.  I  de- 
tailed to  him  all  I  had  done,  and,  though  no  Homceopathist, 
I  received  from  him  hearty  thanks  for  the  benefit  his  boy 
had  got  from  the  treatment.  In  a  few  days  he  was  suffi- 
ciently recovered  to  be  taken  home  by  his  mother. 


COLOCYNTH— COLIC. 
The  takers  of  violent  purgatives,  such  as  Morison's  pills, 
know  the  effects  of  Co'ochivh. 

I  have  found  it,  in  small  doses,  relieve  similar  pains. 


CREOSOTE— VOMITING. 

Creosote  as  a  poison  produces  vomiting  and  other  de- 
rangements of  the  stomach,  together  with  a  tendency  in  the 
fluids  of  the  body  to  decomposition  and  in  the  solids  to 
disorganization.  I  have  repeatedly  seen  small  doses  of 
Creosote  act  beneficially  in  similar  conditions  of  disease. 
I  give  the  following  case,  which  occurred  some  years  ago, 
because  it  illustrates  a  remark  which  I  have  often  lately 
'made,  that,  on  reflection,  I  find  that  much  of  my  former 
successful  practice  was,  without  my  being  aware  of  it,  Ho- 
moeopathic in  principle.  The  notes  were  written  by  an 
intelligent  assistant  at  the  time. 

"Miss  A —  H— ,  aet.  36,  has  been  subject  to  frequent  at- 
tacks of  erysipelas,  accompanied  by  great  sickness.  The 
last  attack  was  during  last  summer,  from  which  she  re- 
covered about  three  months  since.  On  Saturday,  December 
17th,  1836,  she  was  attacked  with  vomiting  and  purging, 
accompanied  by  an  acute  pain  in  the  region  of  the  liver. 


OF    HOMOEOPATHY.  17 

Mr.  H.,  who  saw  her,  gave  her  Calomel  and  Opium,  and 
applied  a  blister  to  the  seat  of  the  pain,  but  without  relief; 
he  gave  her  effervescing  salines  with  Hydrocyanic-acid, 
and  applied  a  mustard  poultice  to  the  stomach,  with  Blight 
but  temporary  benefit  On  Thursday,  December  22d,  the 
vomiting  being  more  violent  than  ever,  neither  food  nor 
medicine  having  remained  on  the  stomach  since  the  Satur- 
day previous,  Mr.  Sharp,  along  with  Dr.  H.,  saw  her  and 
found  her  in  the  following  state :  Vomiting  excessive ; 
pain  in  the  abdomen ;  pain  and  tenderness  along  the  whole 
course  of  the  spine  (to  which  Mr.  S.  applied  a  mustard 
poultice  with  complete  relief.)  Dr.  H.  thinking  that  the 
mesenteric  glands  were  affected,  prescribed  Argent.-nitrat. 
in  small  doses,  combined  with  Ext.  Opii.  aquos.,  and  on 
the  following  day  changed  the  Argent.-nitr.  for  Cupri.- 
sulph.,  but  the  stomach  rejected  everything.  A  large  blister 
was  also  applied  to  the  abdomen,  but  matters  grew  worse, 
and  the  patient  feeling  that  she  must  inevitably  die,  refused 
to  take  any  more  medicine.  On  the  26th  Mr.  Sharp  suggested 
a  trial  of  Creosote.  It  was  procured  and  administered  in 
some  gruel  without  her  knowledge,  one  or  two  drops  being 
put  into  a  small  basin  of  gruel  and  a  spoonful  given  at  a 
time.  She  has  never  vomited  since.  She  continued  to 
take  one  drop  daily  for  a  short  time,  and  then  discontinued 
it.  She  took  small  quantities  of  light  nourishment  since 
the  26th  till  her  health  was  re-established,  and  sue  has 
since  been  quite  free  from  similar  attacks." 

IPECACUANA— VOMITING— ASTHMA— HEMORRHAGE. 

Every  one  knows  that  Ipecacuanha  excites  vomiting. 
Among  my  earliest  trials  were  several  cases  of  vomiting 
in  children,  arising  from  the  ordinary  causes  of  indigestion. 
These  were  all  very  speedily  cured  by  a  few  doses,  more 
or  less  minute,  of  the  tincture  of  Ipecacuanha.  Among 
these  was  a  delicate  child,  about  ten  years  of  age,  who  bad 
been  vomiting  inveterately  for  a  week,  so  that  everything 
which  had  been  given  her  during  that  time,  whether  as 
food  or  medicine,  had  been  rejected.  She  was,  as  may  be 
supposed,  much  exhausted.  She  did  not  vomit  once  after 
the  first  dose  of  ipecacuanha,  and  very  rapidly  recovered 
her  usual  health  and  strength. 

This  result  surprized  aud  gratified  me  much,  it  has  been 
confirmed  by  numerous  instances  nearly  equally  striking 
which  have  since  occurred  to  me. 

The  distressing  nausea  and  vomiting  from  which  females 
frequently  suffer,  and  which  so  often  bafiie  the  medical 


18  THE    TRUTH 

man's  best  efforts,  I  have  found  on  several  occasions  delight- 
fully removed  by  the  same  remedy.  In  one  case  the  patient 
had  suffered  for  two  months  from  continual  sickness,  vomit- 
ing bile  every  morning,  and  her  food  more  or  less,  after 
every  meal.  She  had  had  allopathic  medical  treatment 
without  benefit.  A  few  doses  of  ipecacuanha  put  a  complete 
stop  to  this  distressing  state  of  things. 

Ipecacuanha,  in  infinitesimal  doses,  as  is  amply  shown 
in  the  Tract,  entitled:  "The  Small  Dose  of  Homoeopathy," 
produces  asthma. 

I  have  seen  it,  in  similar  doses,  relieve,  in  the  most 
beautiful  manner,  severe  fits  of  asthma. 

Ipecacuanha  also  causes  bleeding  from  different  parts  of 
the  body,  in  persons  previously  in  health.  Some  very 
interesting  cases  of  severe  haemorrhage,  cured  by  Ipeca- 
cuanha, are  detailed  in  Vol.  I.  of  Mr.  Braithwaite's  littro- 
qpect ;  where,  however,  the  beneficial  effects  are  wrongly 
attributed  to  the  sickness  produced  by  the  large  doses 
which  were  given. 

I  have  had  some  opportunities  of  observing  that  Ipeca- 
cuanha, in  such  small  doses  as  did  not  produce  any  sickness, 
could  arrest  haemorrhage  even  when  life  was  fast  ebbing 
away.  

NUX  VOMICA— SPASMODIC  PAINS. 

In  instances  of  suffering  from  abdominal  spasmodic  pains 
the  benefit  derived  from  Nux  Vomica  has  been  most  obvious 
and  gratifying.  When  the  attack  was  recent  it  was  almost 
immediately  removed.  In  a  case  of  long  standing,  where 
the  countenance  betrayed  the  existence  of  organic  disease, 
and  in  which  the  pain  was  so  severe,  and  had  continued, 
when  I  first  saw  the  patient,  so  many  hours,  that  a  fatal 
result  seemed  not  improbable, — the  prostration  of  strength 
being  very  great, — a  perseverance  in  the  remedy  at  short 
intervals  for  a  few  hours  gave  complete  relief.  This  is  now 
more  than  two  years  ago,  and  the  man  has  continued  since 
comparatively  free  from  the  attacks. 

Nux  Vomica  when  taken  in  poisonous  doses  produces 
similar  symptoms.  

OPIUM— CONSTIPATION— APOPLEXY— DELIRIUM  TREMENS. 

It  is  notorious  that  Opium  constipates  the  bowels;    I 

have  found  it  in  small  doses  relieve  constipation.   Excessive 

doses  of  opium  produce  in  some  persons  coma  or  apoplexy  ; 

I  have  seen  it  of  use  in  that  alarming  state.     In  other 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  19 

persons  it  produces  an  excited  state  resembling  Delirium 
Tremens ; — it  is  the  best  remedy  we  know  for  that  fearful 
condition  when  produced  by  intoxicating  drinks 


RHUBARB— SENNA— DIARRHOEA. 

As  Ipecacuanha  is  remarkably  useful  in  many  kinds  of 
vomiting,  so  Rhubarb,  Semur,  and  other  purgatives  are  not 
less  so  in  the  kinds  of  diarrhoea  which  resemble  those  pro- 
duced by  large  doses  of  these  drugs.  I  have  repeatedly 
tried  them  in  varying  doses,  and  have  obtained  the  relief 
which  I  looked  for,  both  in  children  and  in  adults. 


VERATRUM— CHOLERA. 

It  is  a  fact  familiar  to  medical  men  that  White  Hellebore 
was  the  favorite  purgative  with  Hippocrates,  and  that  it 
has  fallen  into  disuse  from  its  over-violent  effects.  I  have 
had  recourse  to  it  in  two  extreme  cases  of  cholera,  and  in 
other  slighter  ones,  with  complete  success.  In  the  first 
case,  which  occurred  in  the  summer  of  1851,  collapse  had 
succeeded  the  most  violent  cramps  and  other  usual  symp- 
toms. Two  or  three  doses  of  camphor,  dissolved  in  spirit 
of  wine,  were  given  first,  but  with  little  or  no  benefit.  The 
acetate  of  copper  and  veratrum  alternately,  effected  a  cure 
in  twenty-four  hours.  The  second  case,  which  occurred  in 
July,  1852,  was  not  so  severe  as  the  former,  there  being  no 
cramp.  Camphor  relieved  the  extreme  exhaustion,  and 
veratrum  accomplished  the  rest.  There  was  not  a  single 
effort  to  vomit,  nor  a  single  evacuation,  after  the  first  dose, 
though  both  these  distressing  symptoms  had  been  almost 
incessant  for  thirty  hours  previously. 


POISONS  FROM  THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 
CANTHARIDES— STRANGURY. 

That  Cmthori'ls,  even  when  only  applied  externally  in 
the  form  of  a  blister,  frequently  produce  strangury  and 
other  complaints  of  the  bladder  scarcely  any  one  is  ignorant. 
That  they  are  the  most  efficacious  remedy  for  similar  com- 
plaints arising  from  other  causes,  I  have  the  most  satisfac- 
tory evidence.  

I  have  thus  briefly  alluded  to  the  disease  producing  and 
the  disease  healing  powers  of  twenty  of  the  best  hnown 
substances  taken  from  the  three  kingdoms  in  nature  ;  Anti- 


20  THE  TRUTH 

mony,  Arsenic,  Copper,  Corrosive  Sublimate,  Lead,  Mercury, 
Phosphorus,  and  Sulphur;  Aconite,  Belladonna,  Bryony, 
Colocynth,  Creosote,  Ipecacuanha,  Nux  Vomica,  Opium, 
Rhubarb,  Senna,  and  Vreratrum ;  Cantharides.  I  might 
proceed  in  a  similar  manner  with  many  other  remedies, 
but  it  would  be  tedious.  A  large  number  have  been  tried 
by  me,  as  well  in  great  as  in  small  doses.  The  cases  have 
occurred  "in  my  own  hands,  and  under  my  own  eyes*,"  the 
trial  has  been  conducted  under  the  favorable  conditions 
mentioned  already  in  this  pamphlet,  and  the  verdict  is,  that 
my  own  mind  is  convinced  that  there  is  an  accordance 
between  the  two  great  powers  of  these  poisonous  sub- 
stances,— their  power  of  producing  disease  in  the  human 
body,  when  given  in  certain  comparatively  large  doses,  and 
their  power  of  removing  similar  disease,  arising  from  other 
causes,  when  given  in  small  doses.  I  state  the  fact,  and 
enter  into  no  theoretical  methods  of  accounting  for  it.  I 
declare  myself  satisfied  with  the  proofs  I  have  witnessed 
of  the  truth  of  the  principle,  and  feel  bound  to  give  my 
individual  testimony  that  the  administration  of  rtmtdus 
under  the  guidance  of  this  principle  is  a  much  more  succtss- 
ful  method  of  treating  disease  than  any  with  which  1  was 
previously  acquainted. 


Such  is  a  small  portion  of  my  trial  of  Homoeopathy.  It 
conveys  but  an  inadequate  idea  of  the  amount  of  industry 
and  anxiety  which  have  been  bestowed  upon  the  inquiry. 
The  cases  and  observations  might  be  greatly  extended,  but 
I  think  without  further  benefit.  Those  already  given  ex- 
hibit the  hmd  of  evidence  capable  of  being  affoided  find 
which  is  the 'only  kind  the  investigation  admits  of.  The 
quantity  necessary  to  produce  conviction  in  different  minds 
will  vary  according  to  their  several  constitutions,  but  I 
must  be  allowed  to  consider  it  the  height  of  prejudice  and 
bigotry  in  any  one  to  reject  altogether,  and  in  t<m/n<,  such 
evidence  as  this,  or  to  refuse  to  investigate  the  subject  lor 
himself. 

To  the  objection  that  these  examples  are,  after  all,  very 
few  and  insufficient  to  establish  a  general  principle,  I  reply, 
first,  that  in  the  investigation  of  a  law  of  nature,  like  the 
one  we  are  inquiring  after,  it  may  be  almost  said 

"Ex  uno  disce  omnes," 

from  the  behavior  of  one  or  two  substances  carefully  ex- 
perimented upon,  the  conduct  of  all  others  may  be  inferred. 


OF  HOMCEOPATHY.  21 


The  popular  story  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  and  the  falling 
apple,  whether  literally  true  or  not.  is  a  plain  illustration, 
and  conveys  an  important  lesson.  And,  secondly,  nearly 
every  article  of  the  Materia  Medica  lias  now  been  tested 
hy  one  and  another,  and  the  further  the  examination  is 
carried,  the  more  certain  does  the  conclusion  appear. 

The  evidence  therefore  justifies  the  conclusion  that  the 
desire  so  fervently  expressed  by  Sydenham  has  been  ac- 
complished; and  proves  that  this  principle  is  a  "jfoeed, 
definite,  and  comumm'ite"  rule  to  guide  us  in  our  endeavors 
to  cure  or  alleviate  the  maladies  of  mankind. 


Rugby,  July  12,  1853. 


tracts  on  |)0mff0g3t{jg. 


,¥ 


THE  SMALL  DOSE 


II  0  M  (E  0  P  A  T  H  T. 


BY  WILLIAM  SHARP,  M.D.,  F.R.S. 


9 th    Edition. 


F.    E.    BOERICKE: 

HAHNEMANN    PUBLISHING    HOUSE, 
PHILADELPHIA. 


"  fciuects  misimputed,  cases  wrong  told,  circumstances  overlooked,  perhaps  too,  prejudices 
and  partialities  against  truth,  may  for  a  time  prevail,  and  keep  her  at  the  bottom  of  her  well, 
froi  whence  nevertheless  she  emergeth  sooner  or  later,  and  strikes  the  eyes  of  all  who  ao  nut 
keep  them  shut." 

Bishop  Berkeley. 


THE  SMALL  DOSE  OF  HOMEOPATHY. 

"Knowledge  is  more  beautiful  than  any  apparel  of  words  which  can  be  put  upon  it." 

Lord  Bacon. 

"  God  is  my  witness,  and  all  good  men  know  that  I  have  now 
labored  fifty  years  with  all  care  and  pains  in  the  illustration 
and  amplification  of  my  art;  and  that  I  have  so  certainly 
touched  the  mark  whereat  I  aimed,  that  antiquity  may  seem 
to  have  nothing  wherein  it  may  exceed  us  beside  the  glory  of 
invention,  nor  posterity  any  thing  left  but  a  certain  small  hope 
to  add  some  things,  as  it  is  easy  to  add  to  former  inventions." 

So  thought,  about  three  centuries  ago,  the  celebrated  surgeon 
Ambrose  Pare  ;  and  so  think  many  in  the  present  day.  But 
it  is  in  vain.  Knowledge,  notwithstanding,  has  increased,  and 
is  still  increasing.  At  the  very  moment  when  Pare  was  ex- 
pressing his  self-complacent  satisfaction,  the  veil  which  had 
covered  the  eyes  of  Europe  for  so  many  ages  was  being  torn 
away ;  and  at  the  present  time  the  limits  of  our  intellectual 
vision  are  being  extended  more  rapidly  than  at  any  previous 
period  of  the  history  of  the  world. 

If  any  one  would  see  and  participate  in  this  progress  of 
human  knowledge,  he  must  make  an  effort  to  free  himself  from 
the  prejudices  of  education,  from  the  power  of  pre-conceived 
opinion,  and  from  the  influence  of  habits  of  thought,  and 
resolve  to  admit  every  conclusion  which  appears  to  be  ade- 
quately supported  by  careful  observation. 

The  subject  I  have  now  undertaken  is  one  of  acknowledged 
difficulty.  I  think  no  one  can  have  ft It  this  difficulty  more 
than  myself.  I  shall  be  happy  if  I  succeed  in  reducing  it 
within  its  proper  dimensions.  For  this  purpose  I  propose, 
after  a  few  remarks  on  the  general  character  and  extent  of  our 
knowledge  of  natural  things,  to  state  the  case  and  its  difficulty, 
and  then  proceed  to  answer  the  three  following  questions; — 

I.  Are  we  acquainted  with  any  facts  which  render  it 
probable  that  infinitesimal  quantities  of  ponderafc  e  matter 
m  ty  act  upon  the  living  animal  body  ?  In  other  worus,  what 
does  analogy  teach  us  ? 

II.  Are  there  any  facts  which  shew  the  action  of  infini- 
tesimal quantities  of  ponderable  matter  on  the  healihy  body? 

III.  What  are  the  actual  proofs  in  support  of  the  assertion 
that  such  minute  quantities  of  ponderable  matter  act  remedi- 
ally  on  the  diseased  body  ? 

3 


THE    SMALL     DOSE 


Our  knowledge  of  nature  is  obtained  by  observing  facts  or 
events,  and  their  succession,  by  our  bodily  senses.  Our  ideas 
of  external  objects  are  produced  by  the  impression  which  those 
objects  are  capable  of  making  upon  our  minds,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  our  senses.  We  can  observe  and  experiment 
upon  these  facts  or  events,  and  the  manner  in  which  they 
succeed  each  other,  to  the  extent  which  our  senses  peimit  us, 
but  no  further.  The  limit  of  the  powers  of  our  corporeal 
senses  is  the  limit  of  our  knowledge.  This  limitation  is  ab- 
solute.    For  example : — 

Sound  is  produced  by  vibrations  of  the  air  striking  upon  the 
organs  of  hearing.  The  various  musical  notes,  from  the  lowest 
to  the  highest,  are  produced  by  the  varying  rapidity  of  these 
vibrations.  The  gravest  sound  is  produced  by  about  thirty 
vibrations  in  a  second,  the  most  acute  by  about  a  thousand. 
Each  series  of  vibrations  of  the  particles  of  the  air  is  a  fact  or 
natural  event,  and  when  it  strikes  our  ear  we  become  ac- 
quainted with  its  existence  by  the  sound  perceived,  provided 
the  number  of  vibrations  is  not  below  thirty  nor  above  a 
thousand  in  a  second.  These  are  the  limits  of  our  powers  of 
observation  of  vibrations  of  the  air.  That  there  are  vibra- 
tions slower  than  thirty  and  more  rapid  than  a  thousand  in 
a  second,  cannot  be  doubted ;  and  that  there  are  living 
beings  capable  of  perceiving  them,  is  probable — the  hare  for 
example — but  to  us  they  are  as  though  they  did  not  exist. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  eye  and  the  observation  of  colors. 
The  vibrations  of  the  ether,  (according  to  the  undulatory 
theory  of  light,)  produce  impressions  upon  the  organ  of  seeing, 
and  the  varying  rapidity  of  these  vibrations  enables  us  to 
perceive  the  different  colors.  The  limits  are  still  narrower 
than  those  of  sound.  The  whole  scale  of  color,  from  violet 
to  crimson,  lies  between  vibrations  which  number  458  millions 
of  millions  (or  billions)  and  727  millions  of  millions  in  a 
second.  That  there  are  vibrations  of  the  luminiferous  ether, 
varying  in  frequency  beyond  these  two  extremes,  must  be 
almost  certain,  and  that  there  are  eyes  which  can  feel  their 
impression  is  probable, — the  owl  and  the  bat,  for  example, — 
but  to  us  they  are  as  though  they  were  not.  We  shall  never, 
in  this  life,  hear  new  sounds,  nor  see  new  colors. 

The  senses  of  smell  and  touch  are  similarly  limited.  The 
hound  can  smell  and  the  insect  can  touch  what  we  cannot. 

In  two  ways  art  has  rendered  assistance  to  our  sense  of  sight. 
We  stand  upon  the  deck  of  a  ship,  while  crossing  the  Atlantic, 
our  eye  takes  in  a  considerable  prospect  of  the  surrounding 
waters,  the  telescope  extends  this  prospect;  still,  in  either 
case,  it  has  positive  limits,  which  are  dependent  upon  the 
powers  of  the  eye.     This  prospect,  vast  as  it  seems  to  us  at 


OF     HOMOEOPATHY. 


the  tim?,  bears  a  very  small  proportion  to  the  real  extent  of 
the  ocean. 

Again,  bodies  soon  become  divided  till  their  particles  arc  too 
small  for  the  naked  eye  to  perceive  them.  That  they  still  exist, 
and  are  susceptible  of  much  further  sub-division,  is  rendered 
certain  by  the  aid  which  the  microscope  affords  us;  we  can 
now  follow  them  with  the  eye  till  they  are  millions  of  times 
less  than  before  ;  but  our  vision  again  ceases — we  lose  the 
particle — yet  we  cannot  conclude  that  it  has  ceased  to  exist, 
or  ceased  to  be  divisible.  There  are  animals  as  small  as  this 
particle,  and  the  atoms  of  which  they  are  made  up  must  be 
considerably  less  than  themselves.  The  particle  we  have  lost 
may  be  capable  of  further  division  indefinitely  ;  so  that  the 
divisions  we  can  see  may  bear  a  much  smaller  proportion  to 
those  we  cannot  see,  than  the  prospect  which  the  deck  of  a  ship 
aifords  us  does  to  the  rest  of  the  unseen  ocean. 

Beyond  these  limits  our  knowledge  of  external  things  cannot 
extend ;  they  are#  impassable  boundaries.  We  see  how  near 
they  approach  each  other,  and  consequently  how  finite  our 
knowledge  is. 

Besides  these  there  are  limits  of  another  kind  which  require 
to  be  noticed.  They  will  be  best  explained,  as  the  former  have 
been,  by  an  example  or  two. 

On  the  discovery  of  oxygen  gas  it  was  concluded  oy 
Lavoisier  to  be  an  element  necessary  to  the  processes  of 
combustion  and  acidification;  to  be  the  sole  supporter  of 
combustion  and  the  sole  generator  of  acids  ;  hypotheses  were 
constructed  and  the  name  given  accordingly.  This  was  the 
limit  of  our  knowledge  on  this  subject  at  the  time.  A  few 
years  later  it  was  discovered  that  a  leaf  of  C(  pper  takes  fire 
spontaneously  and  burns  in  chlorine  gas,  anu  the  hydrogen 
and  chlorine  combine  and  form  a  powerful  acid.  Here  then 
was  a  real  extension  of  our  knowledge. 

If  we  collect  in  a  strong  vessel  two  volumes  of  hydrogen  and 
on3  of  oxygen,  it  is  well  known  that  the  contact  of  flame,  or 
an  electric  spark  will  cause  an  explosion,  the  gases  disappear 
and  a  drop  of  water  is  produced.  For  some  time  it  was 
believed  that  the  agency  of  heat  or  of  electricity  was  requisite 
to  produce  these  mechanical  and  chemical  phenomena.  But 
it  was  afterwards  fount  that  if  we  insert  a  piece  of  cold  spongy 
platinum  into  the  mixture,  this  is  sufficient  to  occasion  the 
gases  to  explode,  and  the  drop  of  water  to  be  produced.  Thus 
the  previous  limits  of  our  knowledge  were  extended. 

These  examples  show  that  our  knowledge  of  nature  has  not 
only  a  fixed  limit,  dependent  on  the  powers  of  our  bodily 
senses,  but  that  it  is  also  limited  by  a  sliding  scale,  dependent 
upon  the  industry  with  which  we  use  these  powers.     This  is 


THE    SMALL    DOSE 


the  "boundary  which  has  already  so  often  been  extended ;  these 
are  the  barriers  which  we  may  still  hope  to  throw  down. 

The  small  dose  of  the  Homceopathist,  viewed  in  the  light  of 
this  double  limit,  may  be  thus  considered : — chemical  tests 
follow  the  grain  of  medicinal  substance  to  the  third  trituration, 
that  is,  till  it  has  been  divided  into  a  million  of  parts,  and  a 
good  eye,  assisted  by  a  powerful  microscope,  can  follow  it  to 
the  fourth  or  fifth  trituration,  beyond  this  it  is  absolutely  lost 
to  the  perception  of  our  sight.  The  sense  of  f-mell  can  detect 
musk  to  the  fifth  or  sixth  dilution.  Everything  that  we  know 
forbids  us  to  conclude  that  the  division  of  matter  stops  here, 
but  our  senses  cannot  follow  it  further.  On  the  other  hand 
our  power  of  observing  the  effects  produced  by  these  doses  has 
no  limit  but  that  of  the  sliding  scale.  Admitting  for  the 
moment,  what  I  think  I  shall  afterwards  prove,  that  effects  are 
produced,  it  is  evidently  as  easy  for  us  to  observe  them  after 
a  dose  of  the  thirtieth  as  after  one  of  the  third  or  of  the  first 
trituration.  The  same  cautions  are  necessary, but  nothing  more. 

Another  feature  in  the  character  of  our  knowledge  of  natural 
things  is  our  ignorance  of  modes  of  actioi  .  This  also  is  a 
result  of  the  very  limited  powers  of  our  bodily  senses.  The 
succession  of  events  can  be  traced  only  for  a  few  links,  and  we 
cannot  discover  how  even  these  are  connected  together. 

A  hicifer  match  is  rubbed  on  a  rough  surface  and  it  inflames. 
How  friction  produces  such  a  result  we  know  not.  If  it  be 
said  that  friction  evolves  heat,  and  that  heat  inflames  the 
match,  the  question  returns,  how  does  friction  evolve  heat? 
and  fww  does  heat  inflame  the  match  ?    No  one  can  tell. 

No  fact  is  better  ascertained  than  that  the  moon  is  kept  in 
its  orbit  round  the  earth,  and  the  earth  in  its  orbit  round  the 
sun,  by  the  same  force  as  that  which  causes  a  stone  or  an  apple 
to  fall  to  the  ground.  These  bodies  are  separated  by  immense 
distances,  how  can  they  act  upon  each  other  ?  How  is  it  pos- 
sible for  an  inert  lump  of  matter  to  influence  another  inert 
lump  a  hundred  millions  of  miles  off?  It  is  by  the  force  of 
gravitation ;  but  what  is  gravity  ?  and  how  does  it  act  ?  We 
know  not. 

If  we  throw  a  piece  of  the  metal  potassii  m  upon  ice,  it  in* 
stantly  inflames,  burns  itself  into  the  ice  and  disappears.  Part 
of  the  ice  has  been  melted,  the  water  decomposed,  its  hydrogen 
burnt,  and  its  oxygen  has  united  with  the  metal  and  formed  a 
portion  of  caustic  potash,  which  is  all  that  remains  in  the 
cavity  of  the  ice.  These  extraordinary  phenomena  are  the 
effect  of  chemical  affinity,  but  what  is  that  ?  and  how  does  it 
act  ?    No  one  can  inform  us. 

We  can  surround  a  seed  with  suitable  proportions  of  air, 
warmth,  and  moisture,  and  can  observe  the  gradual  develop- 


OF    HOMOEOPATHY.  7 

ment  of  the  germ,  ot  the  entire  plant,  and  of  the  ripening  seed. 
JLno  have  all  these  wonderful  changes  been  effected?   they 

are  attributed  to  the  vital  force,  but  we  know  not  in  the  least 
what  that  is,  nor  how  it  acts.  We  can  examine  the  various 
tissues  with  our  microscopes,  and  analyse  them  in  our  labora- 
tories, and  thus  become  acquainted  with  many  new  and  beauti- 
ful facts,  which  have  presented  t  uselves  in  the  course  of 
the  growth  of  our  experimental  plant  When  we  have  reduced 
the  mechanism  to  the  simplest  form,  we  find  that  it  consists  ot 
minute  vesicles,  formed  by  an  elastic  transparent  membrane 
composed  of  a  substance  somewhat  resembling  starch,  and 
called  cellulose.  When  we  have  obtained  the  ultimate  chemical 
analysis,  we  find  certain  proportions  of  carbon,  oxygen,  and 
hydrogen,  with  occasionally  an  addition  of  nitrogen,  sulphur, 
phosphorus,  and  a  few  metals  or  metallic  oxides.  We  find 
nothing  which  reveals  to  us  what  vitality  is,  nor  Juno  the  suc- 
cessive changes  we  have  witnessed  have  been  brought  about. 
We  take  food  and  are  nourished;  we  take  metlicines  and 
are  acted  upon  by  them;  we  take  poisons  and  die;  but  how 
these  things  act  so  as  to  ju'oduce  such  effects  we  know  not. 

"What  is  the  cause  of  health7   and  the  gendering  of  disease \ 
Why  should  arsenic  kdl l   and  whence  is  the  potency  of  antidotes  1 
Behold  a  morsel — eat  and  die  ;   the  term  of  thy  probation  is  expired  ; 
Behold  a  potion — drink  and  be  alive  ;  the  limit  of  thy  trial  is  enlarged." 

Tupper. 

If  it  be  said  that  our  food  is  converted  into  chyme  in  the 
stomach,  and  into  chyle  in  the  intestines,  that  this  is  absorbed 
by  the  lacteals  and  conveyed  by  the  thoracic  duct  into  the 
blood,  and  that  thus  we  are  nourished.  I  reply,  all  this  is 
granted,  but  what  then?  The  question  remains  as  it  was,  how  is 
all  this  done  ?  No  one  can  tell. 

Again,  if  it  be  said  that  medicines  act  on  the  nervous 
system,  and  stimulate  the  stomach,  that  they  are  sedatives 
and  stimulants,  emetics  and  purgatives,  sudorilics  and  ex- 
pectorants; what  of  all  this?  What  are  these  stimulating 
powers,  how  do  they  produce  their  effects,  and  how  are  these 
effects  beneficial?  No  answer  is  given. 

The  succession  of  events, — the  steps  by  which  an  ultimate 
result  is  produced, — these,  within  the  limits  desci  i'»  </,  may  bo 
observed  and  experimented  upon,  but  Juno  each  step  is  accom- 
plished is  beyond  our  ken.  Of  the  recesses  of  nature,  of  the 
secret  chambers  in  which  her  operations  are  carried  on,  how 
forces  are  "correlative,"  how  they  can  be  changed  into  each 
other,  how  they  act  upon  matter,  how  matter  acts  upon  them 
we  are  profoundly  ignorant.  Nevertheless  we  believe  what 
we  see  without  waiting  until  we  can  explain  it. 

Such  is  the  actual  condition,  the  general  character  and 


THE    SMALL    DOSE 


extent  of  our  knowledge  of  nature,  and  this  consequence 
follows: — we  are  not  entitled  to  reject  any  thing  which  pro- 
fesses to  be  a  fact)  if  supported  by  a  sufficient  amount  of 
evidence,  merely  because  it  is  inconsistent  with  our  expecta- 
tions, does  not  coincide  with  our  previous  opinions,  or  is  not 
within  the  limits  of  our  former  experience.  "We  are  not 
justified  in  concluding  against  a  statement  of  fact  by  a  priori 
reasoning  or  theoretical  considerations.  Analogies  may  render 
an  assertion  probable  or  the  contrary,  but  no  reasoning  is  con-, 
elusive  against  a  matter  of  fact.  The  truth  or  falsehood  of 
the  announcement  of  a  fact  cannot  be  settled  by  reasoning  tr 
argumentation,  it  must  be  decided  by  evidence. 

The  case  to  be  stated  is  this: — when  a  remedy  has  been 
chosen  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  Homoeopathy,  (explained 
in  Tract,  entitled: — "The  Truth  of  Homoeopathy,")  an  incon- 
ceivably small  quantity  is  often  a  sufficient  dose. 

The  difficulty  lies  in  the  incredibility  of  this  statement. 

Be  it  well  observed  that  the  matter  in  hand  is  not  to  account 
for  the  efficacy  of  the  small  doses,  but  to  prove  that  they  are 
efficacious.  The  difficulty  is  not  how  to  explain  their  action, 
but  how  to  believe  it. 

A  story  is  told  of  the  Royal  Society,  that  on  a  certain 
occasion  it  was  proposed  to  that  learned  body  to  explain  how 
it  was  that  when  a  live  fish  was  put  into  a  basin  quite  full*  of 
water,  none  overflowed.  After  sundry  grave  hypotheses  had 
been  propounded  and  objections  urged,  it  was  at  length  pro- 
posed to  try  the  experiment.  So  with  this  medical  difficulty, 
leaving  explanations,  let  us  first  try  the  experiment  as  a 
matter  of  fact.  The  whole  case  is  embraced  by  the  three 
questions  already  juoposed. 

I. — Are  we  acquainted  witli  any  facts  which  render  it  pro- 
bable that  infinitestimal  quantities  of  ponderable  matter  may 
act  upon  the  living  animal  body?  In  other  words,  what  does 
analoyy  teach  us? 

Look  at  that  bright  star!  so  remote  that  the  astronomer 
with  his  telescope  cannot  calculate  its  distance,  and  yet  its 
brilliant  beams  of  light  strike  upon  the  eye  and  convince  the 
merest  child  of  its  existence.  What  a  vivid  flash  that  was, 
and  how  loud  the  thunder!  See  yonder  oak  riven  to  its 
centre, — what  an  irresistable  force,  and  yet  the  chemist,  with 
his  most  delicate  balance  cannot  perceive  its  weight.  Here 
is  a  mass  of  iron,  weighing  a  thousand  pounds,  moving  rapidly 
upwards,  notwithstanding  the  attraction  of  the  earth  to  this 
amount,  without  any  visible  link,  towards  another  small  bent 
piece  of  iron  a  foot  long,  encircled  with  the  galvanic  current; 


OF     HOMCCOPATHV 


— and  now  falling  heavily  to  the  ground  the  instant  that 
current  is  arrested.  What  a  mysterious,  albeit  very  visible, 
effect  from  an  invisible,  impalpable,  imponderable  power, 
generated  by  such  simple  means.  How  warm  the  fire  feels 
while  we  stand  at  the  distance  of  dome  feet  from  the  hearth! 
We  can  imagine  how  heat  will  go  up  the  chimney  because 
heated  air  is  lighter  than  cold  air,  and  will  therefore  ascend; 
but  how  does  the  warmth  get  across  horizontally  to  our  legs? 
Oh,  it  is  radiant  heat  or  caloric  which  travels  in  right  lines  in 
every  direction.  Very  well,  but  what  is  radiant  heat  or 
caloric?  What  is  light?  What  is  electricity?  What  is  mag- 
netism? Several  answers  are  given  by  philosophers  to  these 
questions.  Taking  light  as  the  example,  there  are  two  modes 
of  explaining  it;  according  to  Newton,  light  consists  of 
fM/teruil  partial'7*,  emitted  by  luminous  bodies,  and  moving 
through  space  with  a  velocity  of  192,000  miles  in  a  second, 
and  these  particles  striking  the  eye  produce  the  sensation  of 
light.  According  to  the  other  explanation  of  the  phenomena, 
light  consists  in  an  undulating  or  vibratory  movement,  which, 
when  it  reaches  the  eye,  excites  the  sensation  of  light,  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  sensation  of  sound  is  excited  in  the  ear 
by  the  vibrations  of  the  air.  It  is  obvious  that  this  theory 
also  presumes  the  existence  of  a  material  medium  through 
and  by  which  the  vibrations  can  be  transmitted;  in  fact  it 
supposes  that  an  exceedingly  thin  and  elastic  medium,  called 
ether,  fills  all  space.  For  our  present  purpose  it  is  unimportant 
which  theory  is  regarded  as  the  true  one,  inasmuch  as  both 
assume  that  matter  in  Rome  form  is  concerned  in  producing  the 
various  impressions  of  light  and  color  upon  the  living  animal 
body.  The  effects  are  produced  by  imponderable  but  not  by 
immaterial  agents.  To  convey  some  faint  notion  of  excessive 
minuteness,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  length  of  an  un- 
dulation of  the  extreme  violet  ray  of  light  is  0,0000167  of  an 
inch;  the  number  of  undulations  in  an  inch  is  59,750;  and  the 
number  of  undulations  in  a  second  is  727,000,000,<  H II  ',<  M  M  >,  (727 
billions);  while  the  corresponding  numbers  for  the  indigo  ray 
are,  length,  0,0000185  of  an  inch;  54,070  undulations  in  an 
inch;  and  658,000,000,000,000,  (658  billions)  in  a  second.  The 
other  rays  differ  in  similar  proportions. 

"That  nun,"  says  Herschel,  "should  be  able  to  measure 
with  certainty  such  minute  portions  of  space  and  time  is  not 
a  little  wonderful;  for  it  may  be  observed,  whatever  theory 
of  light  we  adopt,  these  periods  and  those  spaces  have  a  real 
esolstefbo^  being  in  fact  deduced  by  Newton  from  direct 
measurements,  and  involving  nothing  hypothetical,  but  the 
names  which  have  been  given  them." 

Whether,  therefore,  light  be  viewed  as  material  particles 
1# 


10  THE    SMALL    DOSE 

emitted  continuously,  and  in  all  directions,  by  luminous  bodies, 
or  as  the  vibrations  of  an  elastic  material  medium,  it  is,  in 
either  case,  dependent  upon  matter  for  its  existence  or  produc- 
tion, it  is  matter,  but  exceedingly  rare,  subtle,  and  so  minutely 
divided  as  to  be  to  us  absolutely  imponderable. 

It  is  probable  that  heat,  electricity,  and  magnetism  are 
motions,  varying  in  kind,  of  the  same  ether. 

That  space  is  occupied  by  minute  particles  of  matter  admits 
of  being  proved  in  another  manner  quite  independent  of  these 
observations  on  light.  It  has  been  ascertaineci  by  astronomers 
that  one  of  the  comets,  called  Encke's,  which  is  a  body  not 
denser  than  a  small  cloud  of  steam,  for  the  stars  are  seen 
through  it  without  any  diminution  of  their  brilliancy,  and 
which  revolves  round  the  sun  in  1,208  days,  has  its  period 
slightly  diminished  during  each  revolution.  It  is  obvious  that 
its  motion  is  impeded  by  a  resisting  medium,  by  which  its 
centrifrugal  force  is  diminished,  and  consequently  the  relative 
power  of  gravity  is  increased ;  this  brings  the  comet  nearer 
to  the  sun,  its  orbit  becomes  contracted,  and  the  time  occupied 
by  a  revolution  shortened.  Thus,  by  another  series  of  obser- 
vations, we  arrive  at  the  same  conclusion  that  there  exists 
a  rare,  subtle,  and  imponderable  form  of  minutely  divided 
matter. 

Infinitesimal  quantities  of  this  imponderable  matter  are 
capable  of  acting  energetically,  and  the//  do  so  act  habitually, 
producing  such  impressions  as  those  of  light,  &c,  upon  the 
living  animal  body. 

Reasoning,  then,  from  analogy,  we  may  conclude  it  to  be 
probable  that  other  forms  of  matter,  even  though  reduced  by 
the  successive  triturations,  into  similarly  small  dimensions, 
may  also  act,  and  act  powerfully,  upon  the  living  body. 

II. — Are  there  any  facts  which  show  the  action  of  infini- 
tesimal quantities  of  ponderable  matter  upon  the  healtfy/hody? 

The  beautiful  adaptation  of  the  different  departments  of 
nature  to  each  other  is  justly  adduced  as  a  demonstration  that 
the  whole  has  been  created  and  arranged  under  the  guidance 
of  infinite  wisdom  and  power.  In  nothing  is  this  adaptation 
more  conspicuous  than  in  the  appropriate  fitness  of  the  cor- 
poreal senses  of  man  to  the  surrounding  world. 

So  far  as  we  are  cognizant  of  the  material  creation,  it  is 
disposed  under  the  five  following  forms  : — solid  bodies,  liquids, 
gases  or  airs,  imponderable  ether,  and  minutely  divided  par- 
ticles of  ponderable  bodies.  For  the  appreciation  of  these 
various  forms  of  matter  we  have  five  senses.  The  sense  of 
touch,  mainly  conversant  with  solid  bodies;  that  of  taste^ 
which  is  impressed  by  liquids  only ;  the  delicate  organ  of 
hearing,  which  can  perceive  the  vibratory  movements  of  gases 


OF    HOMOEOPATHY.  H 

or  airs;  the  still  more  delicate  organ  of  the  eye,  capable  of  re- 
ceiving impressions  from  the  undulations  of  the  imponderable 

ether;  and,  lastly,  the  sense  of  smell,  adapted  to  the  condition 
of  the  particles  of  bodies,  when  they  have  become  so  divided  as 
to  be  infinitesimal,  that  is, indefinitely  small  and  imponderable. 

It  is  this  form  of  matter  which  we  have  now  specially  to 
consider.  The  particles  separated  from  larger  masses,  which 
become  by  degrees  so  small  as  to  elude  in  succession  the  per- 
ception of  all  our  senses,  and  perhaps  at  length  are  reduced  to 
a  state  similar  to  the  ether. 

A  cubic  inch  of  Platinum,  the  heaviest  body  we  are  ac- 
quainted with,  weighs  upwards  of  5,00(1  grains.  A  cubic  inch 
of  hydrogen^  the  lightest  body  Avhich  affect  our  balances, 
weighs  2  grains.  These  balances,  by  ingenious  contrivances, 
are  made  very  sensitive,  I  have  one  which  readily  weighs 
0.005,  or  five  thousandths  of  a  grain.  Others  have  been  con- 
structed still  more  delicate;  but  the  particles  we  are  now 
examining  are  far  too  light  for  any  balance  to  appreciate. 

Mechanical  division  can  be  carried  to  an  almost  incredible 
degree.  Gold,  in  gilding,  may  be  divided  into  particles  at 
least  one  thousand  four  hundred  million ths  of  a  square  inch 
in  size,  and  yet  possess  the  color  and  all  other  characters 
of  the  largest  mass.  Linen  yarn  has  been  spun  so  that  a 
distinctly  visible  portion  could  not  have  weighed  the  127  mil- 
lionth of  a  grain;  and  yet  this,  so  far  from  being  an  ultimate 
particle  of  matter,  must  have  contained  more  than  one  vege- 
table fibre,  that  fibre  itself  being  of  complex  organization, 
and  built  up  of  an  indefinitely  great  number  of  more  simple 
forms  of  matter. 

The  perfection  of  modern  chemistry  is  such  that  a  quantity 
of  silver  equal  to  the  billionth  of  a  cubic  line,  can  be  readily 
detected/* 

That  particles  become  divided  into  less  portions  than  is 
shewn  in  these  examples  is  evident  from  the  daily  observation 
of  the  sense  of  smell.  The  violet  fills  even  a  royal  apartment 
with  its  sweet  odor,  which  is  thus  readily  perceived, but  which 
absolutely  eludes  every'other  mode  of  observation.  How  in- 
conceivably small  must  be  the  particles  of  all  odors!  And 
yet  how  obviously  material  they  are. 

A  grain  of  musk  may  be  exposed  for  a  long  period,  and  1>" 
unceasingly  emitting  particles,  easily  appreciated  by  the  sense 
of  smell,  yet  has  it  not  lost  in  weight  what  the  most  sensitive 
balance  can  detect. 

These  are  instances  of  infinitesimal  quantities  of  matter 
acting  upon  the  healthy  body. 

*  Elements  of  Chemistry,  by  Sir  It.  Kane,  2d  Ed  p.  7. 


12 


THE    SMALL    DOSE 


Contagious  malaria  constitute  a  large  class  of  agents  whose 
power  of  injuriously  acting  upon  our  healthy  body  is  so  greatly 
dreaded,  and  no  one  has  yet  doubted  that  they  are  material. 
Who  voluntarily  crosses  the  Pontine  marshes  at  certain  seasons 
of  the  year,  or  exposes  himself  to  the  plague  of  Constantinople, 
or  the  yellow  fever  of  the  West  Indies?  The  microscope  cannot 
shew  these  terrible  particles,  nor  can  chemical  analysis  detect 
them.     Ozone  rjerhaps  decomposes  them. 

To  come  nearer  home,  a  clergyman  visits  a  patient  in  scarlet 
fever,  but  does  not  touch  him,  he  afterwards  calls  upon  a  friend, 
and  shakes  the  han  I  of  one  of  the  children  as  he  passes  her 
on  the  staircase.  The  next  day  this  child  sickens  with  the 
scarlet  fever,  and  her  brothers  and  sisters  take  it  from  her;  no 
other  connection  can  be  traced.  This  is  no  uncommon  occur- 
rence, and  no  one  doubts  the  communication  of  infection  in 
such  a  manner,  neither  is 'it  doubted  that  the  infection  itself 
is  something  material.  What  is  the  weight  of  the  particle  of 
matter  thus  conveyed?  Is  it  heavier  than  the  millionth  of  a 
grain  of  belladonna  which,  it  is  -asserted  by  Homceopathists, 
is  sufficient,  when  given  at  short  intervals,  to  arrest  the  pro- 
gress of  such  a  case  ? 

.   These,  then,  are  also  instances  of  infinitesimally  small  quan- 
tities of  matter  actino  upon  the  living  body  in  health. 

There  are  numerous  liquids  which  have  the  power  of  affecting 
the  healthy  body,  and  some  of  them  of  taking  away  life,  and 
yet  in  each  instance  the  quantity  of  the  active  ingredient  is  so 
exceedingly  small  that  hitherto  no  means  have  been  effectual 
in  detecting  it. 

The  Vaccine  matter  has  en  so  often  mentioned  that  I  will 
not  allude  to  it  further. 


Several  animals  are  furnished  with  poisonous  liquids,  which, 
when  injected  into  a  wound,  occasion  the  disease  or  death  of 
the  wounded  animal.  Serpents,  bees,  scorpions,  and  spiders, 
are  well  known  examples.     In  the  venomous  serpents  there  is 


OF    HOMOEOPATHY.  13 

found  an  apparatus  of  poison-fangs,  constituting  perhaps  the 
most  terrible  weapons  of  attack  met  with  in  the  animal  crea* 
tion.  The  poison  teeth  (a)  are  two  in  number,  placed  in  the 
upper  jaw,  when  not  in  use  they  are  laid  flat  upon  the  roof  of 
tli3  mouth;  but  when  the  animal  is  irritated,  they  are  plucked 
up  froai  their  concealment,  and  stand  out  like  two  long  lancets. 
Each  fang  is  traversed  by  a  canal,  through  which  the  poison 
flows.  The  gland  (b)  which  secretes  the  poison,  is  composed 
of  cells  communicating  with  a  duct  (c)  by  which  the  venom  is 
conveyed  to  the  tooth.  The  poison  gland  is  covered  by  a 
muscle  (d)  which  is  attached  to  a  thin  fibrous  line  (e).  This  is 
part  of  the  muscle  which  closes  the  jaw,  so  that  the  same 
power  which  strikes  the  teeth  into  the  viper's  prey,  compress- 
es at  the  same  moment  the  bag  of  poison,  and  forces  it 
through  the  fangs  into  the  wound.# 

The  quantity  of  poison  contained  in  the  gland  scarcely  ex- 
ceeds a  drop,  but  the  smallest  portion  of  this  liquid  taken  up 
upon  the  point  of  a  needle,  and  inserted  by  a  slight  puncture 
into  the  skin  of  an  animal,  is  sufficient  to  produce  all  its  poi- 
sonous effects.  From  some  serpents  it  produces  almost  im- 
mediate death.  Fontana  first  subjected  it  to  chemical  ana- 
lysis, and  sacrificed  many  hundred  vipers  in  his  experiments. 
Others  have  succeeded  him  in  these  labors,  but  nothing  pe- 
culiar has  been  discovered.  The  poison  is  a  yellow  liquid,  and 
has  not  been  distinguished  chemically  from  simple  gum  water,  f 

Here  are  examples  of  infinitesimal  quantities  of  ponderable 
matter  acting  with  frightful  energy  upon  the  healthy  body. 

Medicinal  substances  furnish  other  proofs.  I  must  content 
myself  with  a  single  example.  Inappreciable  quantities  of 
Ipecacuanha  give  an  affirmative  answer  to  our  present  question, 
so  decisive  and  convincing  that  I  make  no  apology  for  ex- 
tracting the  following  cases  from  that  well-known  and  highly 
respectable  allopathic  periodical  the  London  Medical  and 
Pkydc  it  Journal,: — 

"An  apprentice  of  mine,  naturally  healthful,  and  of  an  active 
disposition,  is  invariably  affected  with  a  most  distressing  and 
protracted  sneezing  on  the  most  careful  dispensing  of  the 
smallest  quantity  of  Fp  cacuan/ut.  A  more  continued  appli- 
cation of  it,  such  for  instance  as  happens  in  the  preparation  oi 
the  compound  powder,  is  followed  with  dyspnoea,  (difficulty 
of  breathing,)  cough  and  spitting  of  blood.  Having  occasion 
some  time  ago  to  compound  the  medicine  for  several  days 
together,  he  became  seriously  affected  by  it,  in  the  way  just 
stated,  and  he  has  not  enjoyed  full  health  since.  It  has  evi- 
. . - —  «..       ** 

*  The  Animal  Kingdom,  by  T.  Rymcr  J  ines,  |>,  5S3 

t  Thompson's  Animal  Chemistry,  p.  538. 


14  THE    SMALL    DOSE 

clently  produced  a  disposition  to  asthma,  and  an  aptitude  for 
pulmonary  ailment,  which  he  had  not  used  to  possess."3* 

"In  the  year  1787  or  8,  in  pounding  the  root  to  make  the 
Ipecacuanha  Wuie,  I  was  suddenly  affected  with  violent  and 
reiterated  sneezings,  with  a  very  profuse  deduction  from  the 
eyes  and  nose;  these  symptoms  continued  without  intermission 
for  many  hours,  accompanied  by  great  heat  and  anguish 
throughout  the  cavity  of  the  thorax,  and  the  most  oppressive 
dyspnoea.  Exhausted  by  the  violence  of  the  attack,  I  was 
conveyed  to  bed,  where,  supported,  for  I  was  unable  to  lie 
down,  I  remained  more  or  less  afflicted  till  the  next  morning. 
I  arose  extremely  weakened,  and  with  all  the  usual  appear- 
ances of  ,i  severe  catarrh.  From  this  date  I  have  been  per- 
petually tormented  by  violent  catarrhs.  The  slightest  motion 
of  the  simple  or  compound  powder  of  Ipecacuanha  superin- 
duces precisely  similar,  but  more  gentle  effects.  When  weigh- 
ing or  mixing  these  powders  afterwards,  I  carefully  guarded 
my  mouth  and  nose  by  a  cloth;  but  an  incautious  removal  of 
it^br  inspiration,  till  perhaps  half  an  hour  had  elapsed,  after 
the  medicine  was  finished,  occasioned  the  same  inconveniences. 
At  length  I  was  compelled  to  quit  the  shop  when  Ipecacuanha 
was  in  hand ;  indeed  I  have  frequently  entered  my  own,  or  the 
shop  of  a  stranger,  long  after  it  had  been  used,  and  by  the 
instant  recurrence  of  these  very  distressing  sensations,  have 
been  able  too  accurately  to  ascertain  the  recent  exposure  of 
this  drug. 

"I  never  designedly  had  recourse  to  Ipecacuanha  for  more 
than  twenty  years.  Two  accidents  lately,  within  a  few  weeks 
of  each  other,  afforded  me  the  opportunity  of  determining  its 
present  effects  when  inwardly  administered.  A  friend  hearing 
me  cough  in  the  street,  presented  me  with  a  few  lozenges;  I 
took  two  at  once ;  they  were  scarcely  dissolved,  ere  I  felt  a 
pungent  roughness  in  every  part  of  the  mouth,  exciting  a  great 
secretion  of  saliva;  this,  it  is  worthy  of  noting,  was  the  reverse 
in  the  preceding  attacks,  when  the  excretory  ducts  uniformly 
denied  their  offices,  and  occasioned  a  disagreeable  dryness  of 
the  mucous  membrane.  As  this  acrid  sensation  extended  to 
the  lips,  they  became  prodigiously  swollen  and  inflamed.  On 
the  fauces  I  experienced  the  like  effects,  with  a  most  teazing 
itching  irritation;  it  descended  the  trachea,  producing  pain 
and  dyspnoea;  it  likewise  proceeded  down  the  oesophagus, 
creating  a  slight  heat  in  the  stomach,  and  passed  with  mode- 
rate gripings  throughout  the  intestinal  canal. 

"Soon  after,  a  powder  was  brought  to  my  house,  with  an 
order  to  prepare  more  of  the  same  kind.     I  conveyed  a  few 

*  Mr.  Spencer,  Medical  and  Physical  Journal,  June,  1809,  Vol.  21,  p  485. 


OF    HOMOEOPATHY.  15 

particles  to  my  tongue  to  discover  its  composition;  I  quickly 
experienced  those  feelings  in  the  mouth  and  Lips  which  arose 
from  the  lozenges  before,  but  in  a  milder  degree,  and  they 
extended  no  further.  Upon  referring  to  the  prescription  1 
found  that  there  was  one  grain  of  Ipecacuanha  and  ten  of  cal- 
cined magnesia.  The  incident  gave  birth  to  the  idea  that  the 
former  strange  affection  had  originated  from  the  same  cause 
as  the  latter,  and  upon  inquiry  my  suspicion  was  continued; 
they  were  Io'cacua/t/ia  lozenges  which  I  had  swallowed 
Snuff  and  other  stimulating  powders  excite  no  more  irritation 
on  me  than  on  others."^ 

"One  of  the  editors  recollects  a  somewhat  similar  effect 
produced  on  his  father." 

"To  these  three  cases,  (the  two  preceding  and  one  by  Mr. 
Royston,  alluded  to  in  January  9, 1809,)  I  shall  now  add  two 
in  females,  who  seem  to  have  been  affected  in  so  similar  a 
manner  by  the  subtle  effluvia  of  Ipecacuanha,  that  to  enume- 
rate their  symptoms  would  only  be  to  repeat  what  has  already 
been  given  respecting  those  effects. 

"  The  first  of  these  cases  is  that  of  a  lady,  now  about  fifty, 
the  wife  of  a  surgeon,  and  mother  of  a  numerous  family.  The 
general  state  of  health  has  always  been  good,  her  disposition 
lively  and  active,  and  by  no  means  possessing  anything  of 
that  valetudinarian  irritability  which  marks  striking  pecu- 
liarity of  constitution.  She  has  been  much  in  the  habit,  when 
the  hurry  of  business  required  it,  of  assisting  her  husband  in 
dispensing  medicines.  This  gave  rise  to  her  first  discovery 
of  the  effects  of  Ipecacuanha  on  her  habit.  I  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  remarking  this  fact  about  eighteen  months  ago,  being 
on  a  professional  visit  at  her  house,  while  her  husband  labored 
under  a  severe  fever.  She  was  about  to  dispense  one  of  my 
prescriptions  in  which  some  Ipecacuanha  had  been  ordered, 
and  the  moment  she  saw  what  the  composition  was,  she  ran 
from  the  shop  to  a  distant  part  of  the  house,  refusing  to  dis- 
pense it.  This  excited  my  curiosity  to  find  the  cause.  On 
following  her  she  explained  it,  and  with  some  degree  of  anxiety 
looked  round,  lest  some  of  the  doors  between  her  and  the  shop 
should  have  been  left  open  while  the  prescription  was  about 
to  be  dispensed.  As  my  stay  was  protracted  some  days,  1  had 
occasion  to  see  these  fears  repeatedly  excited.  One  forenoon 
in  particular,  while  she  was  in  her  kitchen,  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  shop,  two  passage  doors  being  between  her- 
self and  it,)  while  she  could  neither  see  nor  know  beforehand, 
that  Ipecacuanha,  which  was  the  case,  was  weighing,  she 
called  out  with  vehemence  to  have  the  doors  closed,  on  ac- 
count of  the  sensations  she  was  beginning  to  feel. 

*  Medical  and  Physical  Journal,  March,  1810,  Vol.  23,  p.  10J 


16  THE    SMALL    DOSE 

"The  second  instance  came  to  my  knowledge  only  the  day 
hcfore  yesterday.  The  lady  who  is  the  subject  of  it  called  on 
me  on  her  mother's  account,  who  was  indisposed,  and  being 
shewn  into  my  room,  took  up  your  last  Journal  which  lay  on 
my  table  to  amuse  herself  till  my  appearance.  On  my  enter- 
ing the  room  she  told  me  she  had  been  reading  my  book,  and 
the  part  which  she  accidentally  opened  was  Mr.  B.'s  communi- 
cation ;  she  added  with  a  smile,  this  is  far  from  so  uncommon 
a  case  as  this  gentleman  seems  to  think,  for  I  myself  am  af- 
flicted by  it  in  the  same  manner;  and  then  went  into  con- 
siderable detail  of  the  symptoms  it  excited  in  her.  The  ca- 
tarrhal affection  and  sneezing  she  described  as  particularly 
distressing.  The  copious  flow  was  so  acrid  as  to  excoriate,  in 
a  few  hours,  the  parts  over  which  it  fell.  Her  upper  lip  and 
the  alae  of  the  nostrils  were  swelled.  But  what  created  in  her 
the  most  alarm  was  its  effects  on  her  eyes.  They  became 
swelled  and  stiff,  and  sight  was  diminished.  The  eye-lids 
tumiiied  so  that  the  eyes  were  sunk  almost  out  of  sight,  which 
seemed  to  be  the  chief  cause  of  the  diminution  of  vision;  the 
discharge  from  her  eyes  was  nearly  as  great  as  that  from  her 
nose,  and  little  less  acrid  ....  No  catarrhal  effects  were 
excited  in  her  by  snuff."# 

"  I  know  a  lady  who  was  always  seized  with  asthma  when- 
ever Ipecacuanha  root  was  pounding  in  the  shop  ;  so  sensible 
was  she  of  this  effect,  that  it  was  in  vain  to  conceal  from  her 
what  was  going  on  in  the  mortar.  This  occurred  about  thirty 
years  ago,  in  the  lady  of  the  physician,  (Dr.  Buckham,  of 
Wooler,)-  to  whom  I  was  first  a  pupil,  and  I  was  twice  the  in- 
nocent cause  of  the  comjriaint  myself.  I  thought  by  her  being 
in  a  remote  part  of  the  house  she  could  not  be  affected ;  but 
it  was  almost  immediately  felt,  and  the  paroxysm  lasted  many 
hours.     This  lady  was  exquisitely  nervous. 

u I  have  been  informed  of  different  cases  almost  similar; 
they  were  all  women ;  but,  conceiving  the  observation  a  com- 
mon one,  I  did  not  note  them."f 

Two  similar  cases,  the  wives  of  medical  men,  are  given  in 
Vol.  24r,  page  233,  by  Dr.  Scott.  One  attack,  caused  by  being 
near  her  husband  at  the  time  he  put  some  Ipecacuanha  into  a 
bottle  was  so  violent  as  marly  to  prove  fatal.  There  was  a 
remarkable  stricture  about  the  throat  and  chest,  with  very 
troublesome  shortness  of  breathing,  with  a  particular  kind  of 
wheezing  noise.  The  symptoms  were  aggravated  at  night. 
At  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  she  was  gasping  for  breath  at  a 
window,  pale  as  death,  her  pulse  scarcely  to  be  felt,  and  in  the 


Dr.  Hamilton,  Med.  and  Phys.  Journal,  April,  1810.  Vol.  23,  p.  318. 
t  Dr.  Trotter,  Med.  and  Phys.  Journal,  July,  1810,  Vol.  24,  p.  60. 


OF    HOMOEOPATHY.  17 

utmost  immediate  danger  of  suffocation.  She  became  easier 
about  11  a.  m.  till  about  11  p.  m.  The  same  scene  was  con- 
tt  n-i '  <l  eight  days  and  nighU  successively" 

"Mr.  Leighton,  a  very  eminent  surge* m  at  Newcastle,  very 
nearly  lost  his  wife  in  a  similar  manner." 

Here,  then,  are  undeniable  proofs  from  odors,  from  con- 
tagious malaria,  from  animal  poisons,  and  from  medicinal  sub- 
stances, from  which  it  maybe  strongly  concluded  that  infini- 
tesimal quantities  of  ponderable  matter  do  act  with  great,  and 
sometimes  with  destructive  energy  upon  the  healthy  body. 

III. — What  are  the  actual  proofs  in  support  of  the  assertion 
that  such  minute  quantities  of  ponderable  matter  act  renie- 
dially  on  the  diseased  body  ? 

The  reply  to  the  first  question  proposed  renders  it  probable 
that  infinitesimal  quantities  of  ponderable  matter  may  act 
upon  the  living  animal  body. 

The  answer  to  the  second  question  embraces  very  nume- 
rous and  undeniable  facts  which  prove,  in  the  most  positive 
and  unexceptionable  manner,  that  such  small  quantities  do 
produce  direct,  and  sometimes  frightfully  powerful  effects 
upon  the  living  body  in  health. 

That  similarly  minute  quantities  will  act  upon  the  unhealthy 
body  is  thus  shewn  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  probable,  if 
not  certain ;  for  it  may  be  argued  a  /fortiori  if  they  can  act 
upon  the  body  in  health,  much  more  will  they  be  able  to  act 
when  the  nervous  system  is  in  a  state  of  exalted  sensibility, 
produced  by  the  morbid  excitement  of  disease.  Any  portion 
of  the  surface  of  the  body  may  be  rubbed  violently,  when  in 
a  healthy  condition,  without  painful  sensation ;  but  the  same 
part,  when  inflamed,  will  shrink  from  the  slightest  touch. 

It  now  therefore  only  remains  that,  by  the  evidence  of  facts, 
I  prove,  generally,  that  they  do  act,  and  particularly  that  their 
action  is  beneficial  and  remedial  in  disease. 

If  any  one  were  to  ask  a  physician  who  has  been,  for  a  few 
years,  in  the  daily  habit  of  prescribing  these  small  doses.  Do 
the//  act  beniivoiaUy  f  he  would  see  an  expression  of  counte- 
nance very  like  that  which  another  person  would  exhibit  if, 
while  standing  before  a  good  lire,  he  were  gravely  asked  if  he 
felt  any  warmth.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  physician  who  has 
not  been  willing  to  try  the  doses,  nor  to  see  them  tried  by 
others,  be  asked,  Can  they  act  upon  disease}  he  assumes  a 
toae  like  that  of  the  King  of  Siam,  when  told  by  some  Euro- 
pean travellers  that  water  sometimes  becomes  solid. 

I  do  not  address  those  who  have  tried  the  doses — they  need 
no  further  evidence ;  nor  those  who  will  not  try  them,  and 
who,  with  wonderful  presumption,  declare  that  such  do 
cannot  act — they  may  be  quietly  passed  by ;  but  those  whose 


18 


THE    SMALL    DOSE 


minds  are  arc  open  to  conviction,  and  who  think  the  care  of 
their  health  and  the  prolongation  of  their  lives  an  affair  of 
sufficient  moment  to  require  them  to  give  attention  to  any 
information  on  the  subject  openly  and  candidly  set  before 
them. 

The  evidence  which  proves  the  beneficial  action  of  the  small 
dose  is  the  same  in  kind  as  that  which  proves  any  other  natural 
fact, — it  is  the  evidence  of  observation  and  experiment, — that 
which  our  senses  afford  us.  It  is  of  the  same  nature  as  the 
evidence  we  have  of  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  in  any 
events  which  happen  around  us.  It  does  not  differ  from  that 
which  we  have  of  the  operation  of  the  large  doses  of  medicine. 

A  patient  has  a  violent  head-ache ;  twelve  leeches  are  ap- 
plied to  his  his  temples ;  relief  follows  the  application  of  the 
leeches.  Had  this  happened  but  once,  we  ought  to  conclude 
that  the  fact  of  the  removal  of  the  pain  following  the  appli- 
cation of  the  leeches  was  merely  a  coincidence,  not  an  instance 
of  cause  and  effect ;  but  it  has  happened  a  hundred  times,  and 
we  therefore  conclude  that  the  relief  was  the  effect  of  the  loss 
of  blood  by  the  leeches.  Another  patient  has  a  similarly  vio- 
lent head-ache  ;  the  millionth  or  the  billionth  of  a  drop  of  the 
juice  of  the  deadly  Nightshade  is  given  ;  relief  quickly  follows. 
Had  this  happened  but  once,  we  ought  to  set  it  down  as  a 
coincidence — an  accidental  meeting  of  two  events  having  no 
connection  with  each  other —  but  it  has  happened  a  hundred 
times ;  shall  it  not  then  be  concluded  that  the  removal  of  the 
pain  was  the  effect  of  the  administration  of  the  dose  ?  Let  any 
one  who  doubts  such  a  conclusion,  and  who  would  attribute 
such  frequent  recurrences  of  the  same  succession  of  events  to 
chance,  take  up  a  kaleidescope  and  turn  it  round  till  he  gets 
the  same  figure  a  second  time.  We  need  not  wish  him  a 
severer  punishment. 

I  now  offer  the  following  statement  of  facts,  for  the  truth 
of  which  I  hold  myself  responsible. 

I  am  aware  of  "  the  difficulty  of  tracing  effects  to  their  true 
causes ;"  and  also  that  there  are  "  various  sources  of  (.nor  in 
conducting  medical  inquiries."  It  is  due  to  truth  to  observe 
that  I  have  used  every  endeavor  to  overcome  the  one  and  to 
avoid  the  other.  I  cannot  hope  to  have  succeeded  in  doing 
this  in  every  case,  but  that  the  ultimate  conclusion  is  a  safe 
and  a  true  one  I  can  entertain  no  doubt. 


ACUTE  DISEASE. 

It  will  not  be  expected  that,  in  a  pamphet  like  the  present,  I  should  give  minute 
details  of  disease.  Were  it  the  fitting  opportunity  I  could  relate  the  particulars 
of  the  following  cases :  — 

Inflammation  of  the  Eye. — Mr.  Brodribb,  in   his   "  Homoeopathy  unveiled," 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  19 

observes  that  "from  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  eye,  we  may  often  actually 
witness  what  is  going  on  in  diseases  of  that  organ  ....  With  the  same 
fidelity  we  can  observe  the  effect  of  efficient  treatment  in  the  arrest  and  removal 
of  the  disease,  and  that  too  witi  such  unerring  certainty  as  to  leave  no  doubt  in 
our  mind  of  the  relation  of  the  two  as  cause  and  eifect." 

I  have  formerly  often  treated  diseases  of  the  eye  by  what  Mr.  Brodribb  would 
acknowledge  wouid  be  '•  efficient  treatment,"  and  have  often  carefully  watched 
its  results.  I  have  now  also  in  a  considerable  number  of  cases  treated  them  with 
the  small  doses  of  Homoeopathy,  and  the  beneficial  results  have  been  such  "as 
to  leave  no  doubt  in  my  mind  of  th^  relation  of  the  two,  as  cause  and  eifect." 
One  case  was  cured  in  a  few  days  by  the  3d  dilutions  of  Arnica,  Aconite  and 
Belladonna,  where  an  allopathic  physician  had  considered  leeches  to  be  hulis- 
pensible.  Other  inflammatory  affections  of  the  eye  have  recovered  much  more 
rapidly  and  satisfactorily  than  I  ever  saw  them  do  under  any  other  treatment. 

Inflammation  of  the  Throat. — The  remark  made  by  Mr  Brodribb  with 
respect  to  the  visibility  of  diseases  of  the  eye  applies  also  to  those  of  the  throat. 
I  have  very  repeatedly  seen  the  influence  of  minute  doses  of  Belladonna,  Mer- 
cury, Hepar-Sulphuris  and  other  remedies  upon  the  various  stages  of  inflam- 
mation of    the    throat  manifested    in.    the    most   unmistakable    manner.      The 

Rev   has  had  attacks  of  ulcerated   sore  throat  repeatedly  ;    under  the  usual 

treatment  of  blisters,  &c,  he  has  been  laid  up  for  some  weeks  on  each  occasion. 
I  attended  him  lately  for  a  similar  attack  ;  there  was  a  large  ulcer  on  each 
tonsil ;  he  could  scarcely  swallow  or  speak ;  he  was  very  feverish,  and  for  two 
nights  he  had  been  deprived  of  sleep.  Without  discontinuing  his  usual  duties, 
which  are  very  laborious,  for  a  single  hour,  and  without  any  local  application  of 
any  kind,  he  was  perfectly  cured  in  six  days.  In  other  cases  where  I  thought 
suppuration  and  puncture  of.  the  tonsils  inevitable,  all  the  mischief  dispersed 
and  recovery  was  effected  in  few  days. 

Croup. — I  have  stated  in  another  of  these  Tracts,  that  several  cases  of  Croup 
have  been  treated  after  the  new  method.  I  have  only  to  add  here  that  the  medi- 
cines were  given  in  infinitesimal  doses,  and  to  assure  my  readers  that  the  relief 
afforded,  without  any  other  treatment,  not  even  a  warm  bath  or  a  mustard  poultice, 
was,  in  every  instance,  most  obvious,  rapid,  and  complete. 

Inflammation  of  the  Chest. — Several  cases  of  Bronchitis  and  some  of 
Pneumonia  have  come  under  my  care  during  the  last  four  years.  They  have  had 
no  means  whatever  used  to  relieve  them  but  the  small  doses.  They  have  re- 
covered more  quickly  aud  satisfactorily,  and  the  attacks  have  been  followed  with 
a  much  shorter  period  of  convalescence  than  I  ever  before  witnessed,  and  the 
cure  has  been,  so  far,  permanent. 

Erysipelas. — This  is  always  a  serious  and  often  a  fatal  complaint;  it  affords 
a  good  example  of  the  confusion  and  inconsistency  of  allopathic  medicine. 
"  The  practice,"  says  Mr.  Nunneley,  who  has  written  an  excellent  treatise  on 
Erysipelas,  "pursued  by  different  persons  is  of  the  most  dissimilar  and  contra- 
dictory nature;  while  one  party  relics  upon  blood-letting,  free/)/  and  repeatedly 
performed,  as  the  surest  and  only  method  of  cure  ;  another  and  perhaps  larger 
party,  certainly  as  respectable,  so  far  as  authority  goes,  utterly  repudiates  the 
abstraction  of  blood,  and  depends  upon  tonics  and  cordials  for  the  removal  of 
the  complaint.  Indeed  so  confidently  are  the  most  opposite  remedies  enforced, 
and  so  contradictory  aro  the  results  said  to  follow  the  application  of  the  same 
means,  in  the  hands  of  different  persons,  equally  worthy  of  credit,  that  the  im- 
pugner  of  medical  skill  may  fairly  point  with  confidence  to  this  part  of  our  field, 
and  demand  if  such  contradictions  are  worthy  of  the  name  of  a  science  or  of 
trust.  V* 

It  is  not  so  with  the  Homoeopathic  treatment  of  Erysipelas,  With  minute 
doses  of  Belladonna,  Rhus,  and  Lachesis,  the  usual  remedies  fortius  peculiar  in- 
flammation, I  have  succeeded  in  all  the  cases  I  have  met  with — among  them  were 
four  severe  ones — beyond  my  expectations.  In  one  case,  on  the  second  day  of 
the  attack  the  inflammation  had  spread    over   the    face,    ears,    most   of  the    scalp, 

*  A  Treatise  on  Erysipelas,  t>y  Thos.  Nunneley,  London,  lbtl. 


20  THE  SMALL   DOSE 

and  part  of  the  neck,  with  a  large   blister  on   each  cheek,   very  severe  headache, 
and  a  pulse  of  150  ;  this  was  entirely  well  at  the  end  of  a  week. 

Rheumatism. — Some  cases  of  Rheumatic  fever  have  afforded  me  excellent 
opportunities  of  seeing  how  beautifully  the  small  doses  relieve  and  frequently 
quickly  cure  this  otherwise  intractable  complaint — one  of  the  opprobria  medi- 
corum.  One  case,  a  widow  lady  of  72,  who  had  i.  then  for  the  hist  time,  and 
while  in  a  state  of  considerable  debility,  was  nearly  well  in  a  fortnight  Another, 
a  farmer  having  organic  disease  of  the  heart,  left  by  a  former  attack,  a  most 
severe  case,  with  violent  spasms  of  the  heart  threatening  to  terminate  life,  re- 
covered in  three  weeks. 

Cholera  and  Diarrhoea. — The  numerous  statements  published  in  various 
countries  of  the  great  efficacy  of  Homoeopathic  treatment  in  Cholera  and  Diarrhoea 
have  been  confirmed  by  my  own  experience,  so  far  as  that  has  gone.  In  these 
cases  I  have  always  used  the  small  doses,  except  when  I  was  anxious  to  test  the 
•principle  of  Homoeopathy  by  giving  ponderable  quantities  of  the  medicine  in- 
dicated. 

Yellow  Fever — The  ravages  which  this  dreadful  complaint  is  now  making 
in  Jamaica  and  other  Islands  of  the  West  Indies  are  painfully  calamitous  ;  of 
course  I  have  not  myself  treated  this  terribte  malady,  but  from  a  trial  of  Homoe- 
opathy, which  has  just  been  made  in  Barbadoes  by  Dr.  Goding,  it  appears  that, 
even  after  the  black  vomit  has  taken  place,  hitherto  considered  so  fatal  a  symp- 
tom, Homoeopathy  can  still,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  rescue  a  victim  from  the 
grave.  This  ought  to  attract  the  attention  of  Governments.  My  information 
is  from  the  West  Indian,  of  October  28th,  1852,  a  Barbadoes  paper,  which  has 
been  kindly  sent  me. 

These  must  suffice  as  a  specimen  of  the  results  in  the  treatment  of  acute 
diseases  with  minute  doses  of  medicine  only.  To  my  own  mind  the  efficacy  of 
the  method  is  most  palpable  and  satisfactory.  I  have  not  one-fourth  of  the 
apprehension  of  an  unfavorable  termination  in  any  acute  attack  of  disease 
which  I  had  in  former  times.  The  duration  of  the  illness  is  much  shortened,  the 
danger  greatly  lessened,  the  strength  of  the  patient  husbanded,  and  convales- 
cence, often  so  tedious  and  distressing,  is  almost  annihilated. 


CHRONIC  DISEASE. 

Pain  ix  the  Elbow. — Mr.  K.,  a  shopkeeper,  consulted  me  in  August.  1850, 
on  acount  of  a  very  distressing  pain  in  the  elbow,  from  which  he  had  been  suffer- 
ing for  twelve  months.  He  had  been  under  surgical  treatment,  I  believe,  the 
wh.de  of  that  time.  The  joint  was  stiff  and  swollen,  but  did  not  appear  to  me 
to  be  seriously  diseased;  the  pain,  however,  was  described  as  being  at  times 
excruciating.  I  gave  him  a  single  dose  of  Staphysagria,  highly  diluted.  In  a 
few  days  I  called  to  inquire  after  him,  when  he  told  me  that  the  night  he  took 
my  dose  he  was  very  strangely  affected  ;  he  could  scarcely  describe  how,  but  it 
was  so  powerful  that  he  would  not  take  any  more  of  my  medicine  "How  is 
your  elbow  ?"  "Look!"  he  cried,  and  moving  his  arm  in  all  directions  in  a 
rapid  manner,  declared  that  it  was  well  ;  and  so  it  remained. 

Biabetes  Mellitus. — On    the   7th    of    March,     1850.    I    was    consulted    by 

Mrs.  a  widow  of  about  47,  who  had  been  suffering  for  several  years  from 

various  ailments,  and  had  been  during  much  of  that  time  under  the  care  of  a 
physician.  I  found  that  one  of  her  complaints  was  diabetes  mellitus,  which  had 
been  increasing  upon  her  for  the  last  two  years.  The  quantity  of  urine  in  the 
twenty-four  hours  was  fifteen  pints,  and  the  weight  of  sugar  contained  in  this 
exceeded  a  pound.  It  would  be  tedious  to  report  the  daily  progress  of  this  case  ; 
it  most  suffice  to  say  that  under  the  influence  of  minute  doses  of  Aconite,  Sulphur, 
Nux-vomica,  China,  Belladonna,  and  some  other  remedies,  by  the  middle  of 
July  she  was  so  much  recovered  that  the  quantity  of  water  was  reduced  to  below 
three  pints,  that  is  to  the  quantity  natural  in  health  ;  and  though  the  presence 
of  sugar   could   still  be   detected,  it   was  comparatively    small   in  quantity.      She 


OF    HOM CEO  PATH  Y.  21 

then  went  to  the  sea-side  for  two  or  three  works.  During  her  stay  there,  her 
son  wrote  to  me  that  his  "  mother  was  so  well  that  she  did  not  appear  to  ail  any- 
thing "  She  has  since  suffered  in  various  ways  from  mental  causes,  and  lias  had 
some  return  of  the  diabetes,  hut  it  has  again  yielded  to  the  same  remedies.  It 
may  be  said  of  this  case  that  the  tendency  to  the  complaint  is  not  removed.  This 
is  (rranted  ;  but  while  the  causes  which  first  induced  the  complaint  are,  in  all 
probability,  still  surrounding  the  patient,  it  is  not  susprising  if  they  succeed  in 
bringing  on  second  or  third  attacks  I  have  seen  several  cases  of  sugared  urine 
formerly,  Out  I  never  saw  the  old  remedies  afford  such  permanent  benclit.  Neither 
is  it  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  new  method  will  always  succeed  in  such  an 
untractable,  and  hitherto  usually  fatal  disease. 

December  28th,  1852.  I  called  to  see  this  patient  to-day,  when  she  told  me 
she  had  not  felt  so  well  for  many  years  as  she  did  at  present.  It  is  now  nearly 
three  years  since  I  first  saw  her  in  the  alarming  condition  I  have  described. 

October  14th,  1853.     She  has  now  continued  well  nearly  another  year. 

Tabes  Mesenterica. — In   September,   1852,  Mrs.   H consulted   me  about 

her  baby,  eight  months  old,  suffering  from  mesenteric  disease.  The  little  infant 
was  greatly  emaciated,  and  its  mother  expected  that  it  was  going  to  die.  Ex- 
cessively minute  doses  of  Sulphur  and  Chalk  were  followed  by  a  wonderful  im- 
provement in  a  fortnight  ;  the  medicines  were  repeated,  and  at  the  end  of  six 
weeks  the  child  seemed  nearly  well — its  stomach  almost  reduced  to  its  natural 
dimensions,  and  its  limbs  filling  up.  Mrs.  H had  been  at  first  quite  incre- 
dulous, and  came  to  me  only  through  the  persuasion  of  a  friend  ;  she  was  now  so 
much  gratified  that  she  thought  it  her  duty  to  call  upon  her  former  medical 
advisers,  to  shew  them  the  child,  and  to  offer  a  copy  of  one  of  my  pamphlets. 
An  anjry  scene  ensued,  and  the  following  conversation  took  place  : —  "I  refuse 
to  take  the  book ;  if  Dr.  Sharp  said  he  was  doing  nothing  we  could  respect  him, 
but  as  it  is  we  cannot."  Mrs  H  :  "  Cut  sir,  my  child  is  cured  !"  "  Yes,  it  has 
got  well  by  letting  medicine  alone  "  "  But  I  had  tried  what  letting  medicine 
alone  would  do  for  some  time,  and  the  child  grew  worse  and  worse.  It  began 
to  improve  from  the  very  day  Dr.  Sharp's  medicine  was  commenced  ;  and  how 
was  it  that  two  other  babies  of  mine  died  of  the  same  disease  in  your  hands  ?  If 
medicines  do  harm,  and  you  knew  that  doing  nothing  would  cure,  why  did  not 
you  .recommend  that  plan  '!" 

Disevse    of  the   LUNGS. — Mr.   W     S ,  aged   20,  had   a   severe   attack    of 

inflammation  in  the  chest  during  last  winter,  and  was  attended  by  two  or  three 
medical  men.  This  was  followed  by  chronic  disease  during  the  spring  and 
summer.  His  friends  despaired  of  his  recovery.  When  I  saw  him  in  September, 
1852,  he  was  emaciated  ;  had  cough  and  expectoration  ;  his  pulse  120  ;  occasion- 
al flushings  in  the  face;  no  appetite;  the  whole  of  the  right  lung  returned  a 
dull  sound  on  percussion,  and  there  was  a  peculiar  sound  of  the  voice  through 
the  stethoscope. 

I  made  no  alteration  in  his  diet  or  habits,  and  gave  him  nothing  but  infini- 
tesimal doses  of  the  medicines  employed,  such  as  Aconite,  Bryonia,  Phosphorus, 
&o.  ;  these  have  been  continued  three  months.  He  declares  that  he  feels  quite 
well  ;  he  looks  well  ;  his  appetite  is  good  ;  he  has  gained  flesh  ;  he  takes  horse 
exercise,  notwithstanding  the  wet  ;  he  has  not  the  slightest  cough  nor  expectora- 
tion ;  no  fever;  no  perspiration;  and  the  only  symptom  which  remains  to 
testify  th'V  reality  of  his  former  danger  is  revealed  by  the  stethoscope,  the  un- 
natural sound  of  the  voice,  though  much  diminished,  has  not  yet  erased. 

Warts. — In  three  cases  out  of  four  I  have  succeeded  in  clearing  the  hand  of 
ugly  warts.  In  all  by  internal  treatment  alone,  and  with  infinitesimal  doses  of 
the  medicines  employed. 

Partial   Paralysis. — Mrs.    M consulted     me,    three    months    ajjo,     for 

paralysis  of  the  thumb  of  the  right  hand,  which  had  existed  for  some  time.  She 
had  entirely  lost  the  use  of  it  ;  for  instance  she  could  not  take  up  a  needle  or 
hold  it;  she  was  otherwise  ailing.  The  case  reminded  me  of  the  condition  of 
persons  exposed  to  the  poisonous  influence  of  lead,  as  painters  are.  I  prescribed 
the  billionth  of  a  grain  of  lead,  in  occasional  doses  for  a  month,  and  nothing  else. 
At  the  expiration   of  the  month,    her  husband,  a  respectable   farmer,   called  to 


22  THE  SMALL  DOSE 

say  that  she  was  rather  better,  and  wished  for  more  medicine*,  it  was  repeated 
for  a  second  month,  and  afterwards  for  a  third,  on  hearing  still  better  accounts 
of  her.  A  few  days  ago  I  was  in  the  neighborhood,  and  called  unexpectedly  to 
sec  her.  I  found  her  sitting  at  her  fire-side  busily  engaged  in  sewing,  and  look- 
ing so  much  better  that  I  scarcely  recognized  her.  She  spoke  very  gratefully 
of  her  improved  condition. 

I  am  not  now  replying  to  opponents,  but  I  cannot  avoid  making  a  quotation 
here  from  Mr.  Brodribb —  "  Lead  will  give  rise  to  all  the  symptoms  of  colic,  and 
produce  a  certain  form  of  paralysis,  but  it  will  not  cure  either  of  those  affections."* 
How  does  Mr.  Brodribb  know  this  !  Has  he  ever  tried  it  in  these  diseases  in  any 
dose  !  And  if  not,  how  can  he  make  such  an  assertion  1 

Habitual  Constipation. — It  is  a  great  bug-bear  with  many,  especially  with 
many  amiable  amateur  practitioners  of  the  healing  art,  that  Homoeopathy  dis- 
penses with  the  old-fashioned  closes  of  Gregory  and  Black  Draught ;  that  it  pro- 
fesses to  be  able  to  go  on  in  its  way  prosperously  without  the  aid  of  Calomel  and 
Colocynth,  Senna,  Salts,  and  Jalap. 

I  acknowledge  that  at  first  I  found  this  difficult  to  accomplish,  but  it  is  a 
difficulty  surmounted.  I  now  never  think  of  having  recourse  to  these  remedies 
in  the  treatment  of  those  cases  in  which  they  have  usually  been  considered 
indispensable.  If  they  are  not  necessary  they  must  be  injurious.  If  they  can  be 
safely  laid  aside,  the  patient  must  be  the  gainer. 

But  more  than  this.  In  a  large  number  of  cases  of  habitual  constipation,  I 
have  succeeded  quite  beyond  my  own  expectations  in  entirely  removing  this 
disagreeable  condition.  «6ome  had  taken  aperients  so  long  and  in  such  increas- 
ing quantities  that  matters  had  come  to  extremity  ;  one  lady  had  taken  them  ten 
or  twelve  years ;  another  told  me  she  had  never  gone  to  bed  without  pills  for 
between  forty  and  fifty  years  ;  and  another  that,  a  pint  of  senna,  &c,  had  become 
ineffectual,  and  yet  an  entire  emancipation  from  this  thraldom  has  been  effected 
by  the  infinitesimal  doses  of  the  appropriate  medicine.  The  nauseous  physic 
was  laid  aside  at  once,  and,  I  believe,  for  ever.  I  have  the  pleasure  of 
knowing  one  lady  who  did  this  at  70,  and  she  is  now  enjoying  comfortable  health 
at  83. 

Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  results  of  the  treatment  of  chronic  disease. 


This  is  the  case  of  the  small  dose,  and  the  kind  of  evidence 
upon  which  it  rests.  I  think  it  well  to  mention  that  the  di- 
lution of  the  medicines  I  have  most  frequently  used  is  the 
3d — in  which  the  grain  or  the  drop  is  divided  into  a  million 
of  parts.  I  have  often  used  the  2d,  (the  10,000th  part),  and 
sometimes  the  1st,  (the  100th  part  of  a  grain).  I  have  also 
often  used  the  4th,  5th,  6th,  and  12th ;  and  I  have  seen  bene- 
ficial effects  follow  the  administration  of  the  18th  and  the 
30th.  Further  than  this  I  have  not  gone,  and  I  do  not  hold 
myself  committed  to  anything  beyond  my  own  observation 
and  experience. 

We  are  indebted  to  Hahnemann  for  the  invention  of  this 
method  of  preparing  and  administering  the  remedy,  as  we 
are  for  the  discovery  of  the  rule  by  which  we  are  to  be  guided 
in  its  elioice. 

The  difficulty  of  the  case,  I  have  said,  lies  in  its  incredi- 
bility, I  trust  this  is  now  greatly  lessened,  if  not  removed.  It 
is  no  other  than  that  which  attaches  to  every  new  statement 

*  Homoeopathy  Unveiled,  by  W.  P.  Brodribb,  2d  Ed.  p.  9. 


OF    HOM(EOPATHV  23 

— its  novelty.  It  is  the  same  difficulty  as  that  which  fastened 
itself  upon  the  mind  of  the  King  of  Siam.  It  vanishes  before 
evidence.  It  is  credible  that  the  small  dose  can  effect  "a  sale, 
speedy,  and  permanent  cure"  whenever  a  cure  is  possible, 
when  it  is  fo arid  practically  to  do  so. 

To  those  who  contend  that,  after  so  many  triturations  and 
dilutions,  there  can  be  nothing  left  in  the  dose,  I  beg  to  put 
two  questions:  first,  seeing  that  a  grain  of  the  medicinal 
substance  is  added  to  ninety-nine  grains  of  sugar  in  the 
first  trituration,  in  which  particular  dilution  has  it  ceased  to 
exist?  And,  secondly,  if  the  doses  contain  nothing,  or  are 
"nihilities,"  as  Mr.  Brodribb  calls  them,  how  do  effects  such 
as  those  referred  to  in  this  pamphlet  follow  their  administra- 
tion? 

To  those  who  attempt  to  quash  such  statements  as  I  have 
made  by  accusations  of  fraud  or  of  falsehood,  I  have  nothing 
to  say.  There  is  no  common  ground  upon  which  we  can  meet 
to  argue. 

To  conclude,  one  obvious  fact  cannot  be  overlooked;  all 
who  bear  testimony  to  the  efficacy  of  these  doses  have  tried 
them,  either  upon  themselves  or  upon  others;  while  those 
who  deny  their  action  not  only  have  not  tested  it,  but,  for  the 
most  part,  boast  that  they  have  not,  reject  the  proposal  to  try 
the  remedies  with  disdain,  and  continue  to  stigmatize  those 
who  do  so  as  "knaves  or  fools,"  or  "morally  attenuated 
dwarfs."* 

Might  reason  being  our  guide,  with  which  of  these  two 
parties  is  truth  most  likely  to  be  found  f 

*  The  "  Lancet."  for  Nov.  6th,  1852. 


Rugby,   Oct.  Ulh,  1853. 


Gratis  on  gomffoptjjg.  K'hs 


THE   DIFFICULTIES 


H  0  M  (E  OPATH  T. 


BY  WILLIAM  SHARP,  M.D.,  F.R.S. 


l)trt**ntl)    <c  0  i  1 1 0  n  • 


BOERICKE  &  TAFEL: 

NEWYORK,  PHILADELPHIA, 

No.  145  GRAND  STREET.  No.  1011  ARCH  STREET. 


The  fruit 


Of  that  forbidden  tree  whose  mortal  taste 
Brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  woe." 

Milton. 


THE  DIFFICULTIES  OF  HOMEOPATHY. 

"Every  Science  has  its  difficulties. " — Johnson. 

Whatever  costs  little  trouble  is  commonly  of  small  value, 
while  that  which  is  worth  possessing  is  difficult  to  obtain. 
As  there  is  no  royal  road  to  knowledge,  so  neither  is  there 
a  smooth  path  for  the  discharge  of  duty  and  the  satisfying 
of  conscience.  If  the  path  be  rugged  it  behoves  us  to 
examine  it  the  more  warily;  to  look  all  difficulties  in  the 
face,  and  not  to  imitate  the  ostrich,  which,  when  pursued, 
buries  its  head  in  the  sands. 

The  difficulties  of  Homoeopathy  are  twofold: — they  are 
either  temporary  or  permament  They  belong  to  ourselves, 
rather  than  to  it. 

I.  Of  the  difficulties,  which  it  may  be  hoped  are  tem- 
porary, some  have  a  special  reference  to  the  medical  pro- 
fession,— others  to  Hahnemann  himself; — some  arise  from 
the  public, — others  from  the  circumstances  in  which  Ho- 
mceopathists  are  at  present  placed.  Of  these  temporary 
difficulties  the  following  appear  to  me  among  the  most 
important : 

1.  The  novelty  of  the  system  now  proposed  to  be  adopted. 
It  is  " vza  tcai  i-h'7]"  new  and  strange.  This  is  a  difficulty 
which  unavoidably  attaches  itself  to  every  thing  which  in- 
volves fundamental  changes.  It  is  a  good  check  upon 
restless  minds.  It  may  sometimes  impede  a  useful  im- 
provement, but  it  more  frequently  retards  and  obviates 
mischievous  alterations.  The  feeling  out  of  which  the 
difficulty  springs  has  its  expression  in  the  proverb  "meddle 
not  with  them  that  are  given  to  change."  But  in  cases  like 
the  present  it  must  be  remembered  that  when  a  discovery 
of  nature's  truth  has  been  made,  there  is  no  novelty  in  the 
natural  facts  ;  they  have  been  from  the  beginning- ; —  the 
novelty  is  in  us,  in  our  knowing  now  what  we  were  ignorant 
of  before.  When  sufficient  evidence  of  facts  is  presented  to 
us,  unless  blinded  by  prejudice,  we  cannot  but  believe  them 
to  be  true,  and  believe  also  that  they  were  true  before  we 
knew  them,  and  whether  we  knew  them  or  not.  It  fre- 
quently happens  that,  on  further  ii  quiry,  we  find  that 
though  the  truth  is  new  to  u ;,  glin  pscs  of  it  have  been 
seen  from  time  to  time  in  i'orner  ages, — occasionally  the 
discovery  is  more  entirely  new.     The  principle  of  Homceo- 


*  THE  DIFFICULTIES 

pathy  is  of  the  former  kind,  it  has  been  indicated,  though 
never  practically  carried  out  before  Hahnemann  ;  the  action 
of  infinitesimally  small  doses  belongs  to  the  latter ;  it  is  a 
truth  of  which  we  had  little  or  no  intimation  till  it  was 
discovered  by  Hahnemann. 

This  first  difficulty  of  Homoeopathy  is  inseparable  from 
the  exhibition  of  new  truth.  It  has  accompanied  all  dis- 
coveries of  truth.  It  must  be  borne  peaceably,  until  Time 
has  effectually  removed  it. 

2.  The  f>rejud<c<s  of  education  and  modes  of  thought. 
These  much  more  frequently  operate  injuriously  than  bene- 
ficially. They  are  wonderfully  strong  among  the  professors 
of  the  art  of  healing,  as  the  history  of  every  discovery  in 
medicine  testifies.  The  reception  of  Homoeopathy  has 
not  differed  in  this  respect  from  that  of  the  most  valu- 
able additions  of  knowledge  and  improvements  of  practice 
of  former  times.  How  just  is  the  satyre  of  Moliere  in  the 
commendatory  character  which  M.  le  Docteur  Diafoirus 
gives  of  his  son  Thomas !  "II  est  ferme  dans  la  dispute,  fort 
comme  un  Turc  sur  ses  principes,  ne  demord  jamais  de  son 
opinion,  et  poursuit  un  raLsonnement  jusque  dans  les  der- 
niers  recoins  de  la  logique.  Mais,  sur  toute  chose,  ce  qui 
me  plait  en  lui  et  en  quoi  d  suit  won  example,  c'est  qu'il 
s'attache  aveuglement  aux  opinions  de  nos  anciens,  et  que 
jamais  il  n'  a  voulu  comprendre  ni  ecouter  les  raisons  et  les 
experiences  des  pretendues  decouvertes  de  notre  siecle, 
touchant  la  circulation  du  sang,  et  autres  opinions  de  meme 
farine."#  "He  is  firm  in  controversy,  staunch  as  a  Tuik  in 
his  tenets,  never  swerves  from  his  opinion,  and  pursues  an 
argument  to  the  deepest  recesses  of  logic.  But  above  all, 
that  which  delights  me  in  him,  and  w/urein  lie  follows  my 
eaamjjh ,  is  that  he  attaches  himself  blindly  to  the  opinions 
of  the  ancients,  and  has  never  been  willing  to  understand 
nor  even  to  listen  to  the  pretended  discoveries  of  our  age 
relative  to  the  circulation  of  the  blood  and  other  opinions 
of  the  same  stamp." 

From  these  prejudices  in  the  minds  of  physicians  arises 
a  wide-spread  feeling  of  distrust  in  the  sincerity  of  the 
practitioners  of  Homoeopathy,  and  a  disbelief  in  their  know- 
ledge of  disease.  The  men  we  have  left  cannot  but  think 
that  we  are  wilfully  practising  a  hoax  upon  the  public,  or 
that,  where  we  are  not  deceivers,  we  are  ourselves  deluded 
through  ignorance.  The  opinion  is  almost  general  that 
Homoeopathy  is  a  sort  of  "pious  fraud"  justified  in  some 

*   "Le  malade  imaginaire." 


OF    HOMOEOPATHY.  0 

degree  by  the  severity  of  the  old  treatment,  and  hy  the 
restorative  powers  of  nature.  When  annoyed  by  the  pass- 
ing over  of  patients  to  the  new  system,  they  endeavor  to 
console  themselves  with  the  reflection,  that,  like  all  other 
kinds  of  quackery,  it  will  have  its  day,  and  be  exploded. 
Even  in  friendly  conversation  we  are  told  that  we  who  pre- 
pare the  small  doses  are  wise,  it  is  our  patients  who  swallow 
them  who  are  the  fools. 

This  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  Homoeopathy  operates 
powerfully  at  present  in  England.  The  conviction  that  our 
facts  are  true,  our  sentiments  just,  and  our  intentions  good, 
will  sustain  us.  The  difficulty  must  be  borne  with  patience 
and  temper.  The  course  of  events  will  remove  it.  For,  as 
was  well  observed  by  a  writer  in  the  "Times,"  "A  man's 
life  in  these  days  is  sp^nt  in  the  realization  of  impossibilities, 
in  fervently  denying  one  week  what  he  sees  put  in  practice 
the  next.  So  wedded  are  we  to  custom,  so  hampered  by 
precedents,  so  enslaved  by  habit,  that  we  cannot  bring  our- 
selves to  believe  that  what  is  wrong  in  our  proceedings  can 
possibly  be  corrected,  or  what  is  right  in  the  practices  of 
our  neighbors  can  possibly  be  adopted.  The  Committee 
of  the  House  of  Commons  which  pronounced  Railways 
'impossible,'  sneered  at  the  draining  of  Chat  Moss,  and  re- 
jected the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway  Bill  out  of 
mercy  to  the  demented  projectors,  was  too  faithful  a  type 
of  the  English  mind.  Active  and  indefatigable  within  its 
own  range  it  recoils  with  a  pusillanimous  horror  before 
whatever  is  new  and  untried." 

3.  Sdf' ' nUrest  cannot  be  overlooked  as  another  difficulty. 
It  is  a  serious  obstacle  to  the  general  reception  of  Homoeo- 
pathy by  the  medical  profession.  Where  success  has  been 
already  attained,  change  is  naturally  dreaded,  it  is  likely 
to  be  for  the  worse ;  and  in  the  less  happy  alternative,  where 
'•res  angusti  domi,"  straightened  circumstances  press,  it 
is  a  doubtful  plunge ; — it  may  be  into  a  lower  depth.  To 
turn  aside  from  the  beaten  path,  even  where  truth  and  con- 
science seem  to  lead,  is  no  easy  task,  when  the  maintenance 
of  a  family  is  hazarded  by  the  change.  Some  allowance 
must  be  made  for  considerations  of  this  kind. 

There  are  some  who  are  deterred  unnecessarily  by  this 
motive.  Men  who  are  so  circumstanced  that  they  could 
afford  to  give  up  the  old  method  and  adopt  the  new,  even 
if  they  were,  as  probably  they  would  be,  losers  for  a  time. 
They  might  wait  for  a  return  of  practice,  and  be  supported, 
during  the  interval,  by  a  good  conscience.  A  very  dear 
friend  of  mine,  writing  an  expostulatory  letter  to  me,  two  or 


6  THE  DIFFICULTIES 

three  years  ago,  among  other  things  urged  upon  me  this 
consideration,  "your  success  is  my  downfall!"  Not  so,  my 
dear  friend,  if  you  will  get  up  and  ride  with  me,  you  may 
share  my  success,  there  is  abundance  of  room  for  both. 

Many  are  wanting  in  moral  courage.  I  once  said  to  a 
man  of  very  superior  sense,  integrity,  and  worldly  ex- 
perience, "Do  right  and  leave  it,"  "and  be  left  in  the 
lurch!"  was  his  instant  reply;  and  many  will  agree  with 
him.  I  think  they  are  mistaken,  and  that  a  longer  ex- 
perience and  closer  observation  would  confirm  the  wisdom 
of  the  Dutch  maxim, 

"  Doe  wel  en  zie  niet  om." 

"Do  what  you  ought; — happen  what  may." 

This  then  is  a  difficulty,  but  it  is  a  temporary  one.  It 
may  be  safely  left  to  be  removed  by  Time. 

4.  A  very  pardonable  indolence  is  a  difficulty  with  all 
medical  men  who  have  passed  the  middle  of  life.  They 
have  already  made  one  great  effort  to  qualify  themselves 
for  the  duties  of  their  calling.  They  have  spent  six  or 
seven  years  as  students  of  medicine,  and  since  that  period, 
many  more  years  have  rolled  away  in  its  laborious  practice. 
It  is  much  too  formidable  an  undertaking  to  set  sail  afresh 
on  a  new  ocean  of  troubles,  and  to  endeavor  to  guide  their 
vessel  into  a  foreign  port.  "The  trouble  is  immense,  and 
I  have  grown  idle,"  was  the  candid  acknowledgment  of 
the  excellent  Mr  Kingdon,  in  his  paper  on  Homoeopathy, 
read  before  the  Medical  Society  of  London,  in  the  year  1836. 

From  the  anxiety  and  labor  of  such  a  task  as  this,  the 
elder  members  of  the  profession  must,  in  all  reason,  be  ex- 
cused. It  is  otherwise  with  the  junior  portion ;  nothing 
can  acquit  them  from  the  duty  of  investigating  the  new 
system  for  themselves  and  of  trying  its  merits  in  their. 
own  hands  by  actual  experiment.  If,  however,  the  seniors 
are  to  be  excused,  it  is  evident  that  this  very  circumstance 
constitutes  a  great  difficulty  to  Homoeopathists,  and  a  for- 
midable obstacle  to  the  progress  of  Homoeopathy. _  Great 
and  formidable  it  doubtless  is,  nevertheless  it  is  a  difficulty 
which  may  be  patiently  borne,  under  the  solemn  reflection 
that  Time  is  diminishing  it  every  day,  and  will,  ere  long, 
remove  it. 

5.  The  fear  of  forfeiting  respectability,  by  joining  a  sect 
so  despised  and  ridiculed,  operates,  as  a  poweifal  hindrance 
in  the  minds  of  many  in  the  profession.  The  losing  of 
"  caste"  for  the  sake  of  truth  may  be  thought  by  some  to 
be  a  slight  sacrifice,  but  those  who  know  human  nature 
better  will  come  to  a  different  conclusion.     It  is  in  fact  so 


OF  IIOMCEOPATIIY.  7 

groat  tli at  perhaps  scarcely  any  truth  except  that  which 
relates  to  GOD  and  eternity,  will  be  acknowledged  as  worthy 
to  make  the  demand.  If  it  can  be  required  on  behalf  of 
any  truth  referring  to  this  life  only,  we  may  venture  to  claim 
it  for  the  subject  we  have  now  in  hand. 

Great  however  as  this  difficulty  is  for  the  moment,  it  is, 
I  believe,  a  temporary  difficulty.  '.  The  time,  I  think,  is  not 
distant  when  the  man  who  has  embraced  the  new  system 
of  the  art  of  healing,  whose  principle  of  treatment  is  known, 
and  whose  mode  of  practice  is  simple,  open,  free  from 
mystification,  will  be  the  practitioner  regarded  as  the  most 
truly  respectable. 

6.  The  mi* representation  of  Homoeopathy  by  its  op- 
ponents is  a  difficulty  which  I  feel  great  reluctance  to  notice. 
Such  disingenuous  conduct  reflects  so  much  discredit  upon 
my  professional  brethren  that  I  would  it  did  not  exist,  or 
that  I  had  no  need  to  allude  to  it.  Charges,  without  proof, 
of  quackery,  of  fraud,  and  of  falsehood ;  attempts  to  hinder 
the  circulation  of  our  books ;  to  erase  our  names  from  college 
and  other  lists ;  and  to  refuse  diplomas  to  our  students ; 
accompanied  at  the  same  time  with  the  unacknowledged 
adoption  of  some  of  our  best  remedies,  betray  a  state  of 
feeling  greatly  to  be  lamented. 

7.  The  general  ianoranie  which  prevails  upon  the  subject 
of  Homoeopathy  is  not  only  a  great  difficulty  in  itself,  but 
is  also  the  origin  of  most  of  those  we  have  already  noticed. 
Both  the  profession  and  the  public  need  to  be  better  in- 
formed as  to  what  Homoeopathy  really  is.  How  few  persons 
have  any  definite  idea  of  the  principle  of  Homoeopathy,  and 
of  those  who  have,  the  great  majority  entertain  a  mistaken 
notion.  They  think  that  it  teaches  that  what  causes  a. 
mischief  will  cure  it,  thus  confounding  similis  (like)  with 
idem  (the  same).  Some  of  Hahnemann's  own  illustrations 
may  have  tended  to  foster  this  mistake,  but  it  is  highly 
desirable  that  the  point  at  issue  should  be  clearly  stated 
and  understood  before  it  is  discussed.  Many  things  taken 
into  the  stomach  in  a  state  of  health  are  found  by  ex- 
perience to  nourish  and  support  the  body — to  preserve  life 
and  health;  these  are  called  food.  Many  other  things 
wnen  similarly  taken  are  found  by  experience  to  cause  pain 
and  injury  to  the  body — to  destroy  health  and  life  ;  these 
are  called  poisons.  We  have  also  learned  from  experience 
that  some  of  these  latter  substances — these  poisons — when 
given  in  natural  disease  act  beneficially  and  remedially 
upon  the  diseased  body.  Homoeopathy  implies  that  ex- 
perience further  teaches  us  that  the  best  mode  of  adnii- 


8  THE  DIFFICULTIES 

nistering  these  remedial  poisons  is  to  give  them  m  such 
cases  of  natural  ailments  as  resemble  in  their  symptoms 
those  injurious  effects  which  such  poisons  produce  when 
taken  in  health.  If  a  person  has  suffered  a  bruise  he  is  not 
supposed  to  require  a  second  blow  to  cure  him,  as  is  often 
stated,  in  order  apparently  to  throw  ridicule  upon  the  sub- 
ject, but  some  substance  is  to  be  sought  for,  which,  when 
taken  in  health,  will  produce  pains  and  sensations  similar  to 
those  of  the  bruise.  A  plant  called  Arnica  Montana  does 
this,  and  a  small  dose  of  the  juice  of  this  plant  is  found  by 
happy  experience  to  relieye  the  pains  of  the  bruise  far  better 
than  any  other  remedy  yet  discovered, 

It  is  objected  that  the  symptoms  produced  by  these 
poisons,  when  taken  in  health,  and  said  to  be  similar  to 
those  symptoms  in  disease  for  which  they  act  as  remedies, 
are  not  invariably  produced ;  for  instance,  that  Belladonna 
does  not  always  produce  symptoms  resembling  Scarlet 
Fever,  or  that  Mercury  does  not  always  produce  salivation, 
or  ulceration  of  the  throat.  No  one  ever  asserted  that  they 
did,  nor  is  it  at  all  required  for  the  truth  of  Homoeopathy 
that  they  should.  If  they  have  ever  unequivocally  done  so, 
it  proves  that  they  are  capable  of  producing  them,  which  is 
all  that  Homoeopathy  asserts. 

8.  The  small  doge,  which  is  the  great  obstacle  to  the 
progress  of  Homoeopathy, — the  great  handle  of  its  op- 
ponents. What  may  be  advanced  in  its  support  I  have 
endeavored  to  condense  into  a  small  space  in  another  Tract. 
I  must  again  be  allowed  to  assert  emphatically  that  it  is 
a  question  of  fact,  to  be  settled  only  by  experiment ;  _  that 
those  who  content  themselves  either  with  ridiculing  it,  or 
with  reasoning  about  it,  will  never  ascertain  the  truth 
respecting  it;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  inquire 
into  the  evidence  in  its  favor  as  a  matter  of  fact,  and  if 
possible  to  see  this  evidence  with  his  own  eyes.  Great  as 
this  obstacle  is  at  present,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  class  it  among 
the  temporary  difficulties  of  Homoeopathy,  Daily  ex- 
perience of  the  effects  of  small  doses  will,  after  a  time,  render 
their  efficacy  familiar  to  every  one;  as  with  many  other 
marvels,  the  wonder  will  cease,  and  the  difficulty  vanish. 

9.  Among  the  many  obstacles  raised  to  hinder  the  pro- 
gress of  Homoeopathy,  and  particularly  of  the  small  dose, 
ridicule  has  not  been  forgotten.  Indeed,  it  has  been  a  main 
weapon  by  the  unsparing  use  of  which  it  has  been  con- 
fidently expected  that  Homoeopathy  would  perish.  "Y\re 
cannot  choose  but  laugh,"  say  our  opponents,  and  verily  "  the 
sneer  of  a  man's  own  comrades  trieth  the  muscles  of  courage." 


OF  HOMEOPATHY  9 

I  have  no  wish  to  depreciate  the  power  and  efficacy  of  this 
weapon.  It  has  doubtless  prevented  the  reception  of  Ho- 
moeopathy by  many  minds,  but  it  has  not  gained  its  end ; 
Homoeopathy  lias  not  quailed  before  it. 

Ridicule  has  been  called  the  test  of  truth.  If  this  be  so, 
Homoeopathy  must  be  true,  for  it  lias  now  stood  exposure 
to  every  kind  of  banter  and  jest,  whether  witty  or  sarcastic, 
for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  Homceojmthy  not  only 
exists — it  advances  on  every  side,  and  through  every  grade 
of  society. 

Ridicule,  however,  when  boldly  looked  at  as  an  argument 
against  the  statement  of  fact*,  is  a  mean  scare-crow.  That 
it  should  be  brought  to  bear  upon  a  subject  so  sacred  as  the 
sufferings  of  the  human  family,  and  the  means  of  relieving 
them,  is  a  great  reflection  upon  the  characters  of  those  who 
thus  venture  to  use  it.  They  cannot  be  surprised  if  such 
conduct  reminds  others  of  the  proverb,  "as  the  crackling  of 
thorns  under  a  pot,  so  is  the  laughter  of  the  fool." 

Ridicule  then  is  a  difficulty,  but  it  cannot  prove  more 
than  a  temporary  one,  and  must  at  length  recoil  with  un- 
welcome power  upon  the  quarters  from  whence  it  has  pro- 
ceeded. 

10.  A  much  more  important  difficulty  is  the  grave  one 
which  presents  itself  to  the  practitioner  of  Homoeopathy  in 
the  choice  of  the  dose.  To  explain  this  it  may  be  necessary 
to  revert  to  the  basis  of  Homoeopathy. 

The  properties  of  drugs,  for  the  purposes  of  Homoeopa- 
thy, are  discovered  by  healthy  persons  (generally  physicians) 
taking  them  experimentally,  and  carefully  recording  all 
the  symptoms  produced.  The  dose  must  be  sufficiently 
large  to  act  injuriously  upon  both  mind  and  body.  By 
the  indomitable  industry  and  courage  of  Hahnemann  and  his 
friends  a  vast  mass  of  symptoms  have  been  thus  collected ; — 
the  most  violent  effects  of  the  substances  so  examined, 
being  learned  from  the  cases  of  poisoning  which  unhappily 
occur  from  time  to  time.  The  list  of  symptoms  or  etr'ects 
belonging  to  each  drug  is  called  the  "proving"  of  the  medi- 
cine. The  second  step  in  the  practice  of  Homoeopathy  is 
that  the  physician  shall  very  carefully  investigate  each  case 
of  disease,  presenting  itself  to  his  observation,  noting  all 
the  symptoms,  moral  as  well  as  physical,  which  he  can  dis- 
cover; his  third  duty  is  to  inquire,  not  as  formerly  what 
medicines  have  done  good  in  similar  cases,  but  what  drug 
has  produced,  when  taken  in  health,  symptoms  resembling 
those  of  the  case  in  hand.  By  this  means  he  is  guided  to 
the  best  remedy  which  can  be  found  for  that  particular 


10  THE  DIFFICULTIES 

patient.  Of  course  that  remedy  is  given  alone.  Here  is  a 
rule,  and  the  mode  of  applying  it.  This  is  the  triumph  of 
Homoeopathy.  Thus,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  has  medicine  been  constituted  a  science.  It  was 
previously  not  only  merely  an  art,  hut  a  very  wretched  and 
cruel  art. 

Here  then  is  an  admirable  guide  in  the  choice  of  a  remedy, 
but  it  is  obvious  that  this  guide  carries  us  no  farther.  When 
the  remedy  has  been  fixed  upon,  another  question  imme- 
diately arises,  in  what  dose  must  it  be  given  ?  The  guide 
tells  us,  (as  was  seen  by  Hippocrates  more  than  two  thousand 
years  ago,)  that  the  dose  must  be  less  than  that  which  pro- 
duced the  symptoms  in  health,  but  ho  to  much  less  it  does 
not  say.  Here  then  is  a  practical  difficulty.  For  some  time 
after  Hahnemann  had  discovered  the  law  of  Homoeopathy, 
or  the  mode  of  choosing  the  remedy  just  explained,  he  gave 
the  drugs  almost  in  the  usual  doses  ;  but  he  was  so  troubled 
with  ill  effects,  in  the  shape  of  aggravations  of  the  symptoms, 
as  to  be  compelled  to  diminish  very  much  the  quantity  given 
as  a  dose.  He  was  then  greatly  persecuted  by  the  apothe- 
caries, or  druggists  of  his  native  country,  because  he  neces- 
sarily prepared  his  own  medicines,  and  perhaps  partly  to 
retaliate  upon  them,  and  partly  to  carry  out  his  views  to 
the  uttermost,  he  invented  the  method  of  reducing  the  dose 
to  an  infinitesimal  quantity,  and  still  found  it  to  answer 
when  prescribed  according  to  his  principle.  I  have  myself 
put  these  different  doses  to  a  fair  test  in  practice.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  they  act,  but  I  have  felt,  in  my  early  practice 
especially,  as  a  great  difficulty,  the  want  of  a  rule  or  prin- 
ciple to  guide  in  the  choice  of  the  close.  When  ought  the 
remedy  to  be  given  in  substance  ?  When  in  the  first,  second, 
or  third  dilution  ?  When  in  the  sixth,  twelfth,  or  thirtieth  ? 
Some  cases  seem  to  be  better  treated  with  the  lower  or 
larger,  some  with  the  higher  or  smaller  doses.  This  at 
present  is  a  matter  of  experience.  Several  attempts  have 
been  made  to  suggest  rules,  but  as  yet  without  success. 
The  next  great  step  in  the  improvement  of  medicine  will 
be  the  discovery  of  a  principle  to  guide  in  the  choice  of  the 
dose  and  its  repetition,  as  the  law  of  similia  guides  us  in 
the  selection  of  the  remedy.  I  cannot  but  entertain  a 
sanguine  hope  that  this  will  be  permitted,  and  therefore  I 
venture  to  consider  the  want  a  temporary  difficulty.  In 
the  mean  time  careful  observation  is  not  without  its  fruits. 
By  experience  we  get  empirically  at  right  doses,  (as  on  the 
old  method  the  right  remedy  is  sometimes  got  at,)  and  in 
the  majority  of  instances,  if  we   have   succeeded  in  our 


OF  IIOMCEOPATH  11 

application  of  the  law  in  the  selection  of  the  remedy,  our 
close  hits  pretty  effectually,  though  perhaps  another  might 
have  succeeded  better. 

11.  There  is  another  class  of  difficulties  which  I  must 
now  notice,  the  first  of  which  is  the  hypothetical  and  meta~ 
p/ioriecU  style  in  which  Hahnemann  has  clothed  his  dis- 
coveries. This  has  tended  in  no  small  degree  to  repel  many 
from  his  threshold  who  might  have  become  inquirers ;  and 
to  harass  and  perplex  those  who  would  not  allow  any  thing 
to  repel  them.  This  remark  is  especially  applicable  to 
Hahnemann's  great  work — "  The  Organon  of  Medicine." 
I  have  not  heard  of  one  who  has  been  made  a  convert  by 
the  perusal  of  it,  while  I  have  known  several  who  have 
been  discouraged  by  reading  it,  and  others  who,  having  been 
homceopathists  for  years,  acknowledge  that  much  of  it  is 
beyond  their  comprehension. 

The  error  into  which,  in  my  opinion,  Hahnemann  has 
fallen,  in  the  composition  of  this  work,  is  that  he  mainly 
labors  a  theoretical,  explanation  of  Homoeopathy,  and  this 
error  is  the  more  remarkable  because  he  had,  in  the  Prin- 
cinia  of  Newton  a  perfect  example  to  follow.  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  in  that  book,  has  succeeded  to  the  admiration  of 
the  world.  He  gives  us  his  great  discovery,  the  law  of 
gravitation,  and  proves  it  to  us  by  irrefragable  evidence, 
but  he  does  not  attempt  to  explain  the  nature  of  the  force, 
nor  its  mole  of  action.  "I  have  not,"  Newton  says  "been 
able  to  discover  the  cause  of  the  properties  of  gravity  from 
phenomena,  and  I  frame  no  hypotheses ;  for  whatever  is 
not  deduced  from  the  phenomena  is  to  be  called  an  hypo- 
thesis ;  and  hypotheses,  whether  metaphysical  or  physical, 
whether  of  occult  qualities  or  mechanical,  have  no  place  in 

experimental  philosophy To  us  it  is  enough  that  gravity 

does  really  exist,  and  act  according  to  the  laws  which  we 
have  exnlain»<ir*  Had  Hahnemann  been  so  happy  as  to 
follow  this  example  he  would  have  given  us  his  discovery 
in  simple  words,  as  a  niked  fact,  and  supported  his  asser- 
tion by  a  complete  practical  demonstration,  free  from  hy- 
pothetical guesses  at  explanation.  Herein,  I  think,  Hahne- 
mann has  failed.  Strong  as  an  original  and  careful  observer, 
indefatigable  in  pursuing  his  discoveries,  he  becomes  weak 
as  Other  men  when  he  begins  to  guess.,.  His  hypothesis  are 
no  better  than  those  of  any  other  writer,  they  must  share 
the  fate  of  all  that  have  "preceded  them,  and  pass  into 
oblivion,   and  I  cannot  but  think,  as  regards  the  interest  of 

Homoeopathy,  the  sooner  the  better. 

*  Close  of  the  Pbincipia. 


12  THE  DIFFICULTIES 

That  natural  diseases  are  best  treated  by  giving  those 
medicines  which,  when  taken  in  health,  are  capable  of 
producing  similar  symptoms,  is,  if  true,  a  natural  tact,  easily 
stated,  and  needs  neither  gloss  nor  explanation  to  make  it 
available  in  daily  practice.  This  is  expressed  in  the  Orgaoion 
in  the  following  manner : 

"  A  weaker  dynamic  affection  is  permanently  extinguished 
in  the  living  organism  by  a  stronger  one,  if  the  latter 
(whilst  differing  in  kind)  is  similar  to  the  former  in  its 
manifestations." 

"As  every  disease  (not  strictly  surgical)  depends  only  en 
a  peculiar  morbid  derangement  of  our  vital  force  in  sen- 
sations and  functions,  when  a  homoeopathic  cure  of  the  vital 
force  deranged  by  the  natural  disease  is  accomrdished  by  the 
administration  of  a  medicinal  potency  selected  on  account  of 
an  accurate  similarity  of  symptoms,  a  somewhat  stronger  but 
similar,  artificial  morbid  anection  is  brought  into  contact 
with,  and  as  it  were  pushed  into  the  place  of  the  weaker, 
similar  natural  morbid  irritation,  against  which,  the  in- 
stinctive vital  force  now  merely  (though  in  a  stronger  de- 
gree) medicinally  diseased  is  then  compelled  to  cliiect  an 
increased  amount  of  energy,  but,  en  account  of  the  shorter 
duration  of  the  action  of  the  medicinal  potency  that  now 
morbidly  affects  it,  the  vital  force  scon  overcomes  this,  and 
as  it  was  in  the  first  instance  relieved  from  the  material 
morbid  affection,-  so  it  is  now  at  last  freed  from  the  artificial 
(the  medicinal)  one,  and  hence  is  enabled  a^ain  to  cany  on 
healthily  the  vital  operations  of  the  organiim." 

This  is  a  long  extract,  but  it  was  due  to  Hahnemann  that 
his  own  voice  should  be  heard.  Had  I  space  I  would  give 
another  similar  paragraph  in  which  he  attempts  to  state  his 
views  by  such  terms  as  these  ;- — "driving  the  enemy  out  of 
the  country  by  foreign  auxiliary  troops."  "The  vital  force 
advances  towards  the  hostile  disease,  and  yet  no  enemy  can 
be  overcome  except  by  a  superior  power."  "If  in  this 
manner  we  magnify  to  the  perception  of  the  vital  juincijde 
the  picture  of  its  enemy  the  disease,"  &c.  &c. 

Some  of  my  readers  will  be  reminded  by  such  enig- 
matical language  of  another  great  reformer  of  medicine, 
Paracelsus,  and  his  "Currus  Triumphalis  Antimonii."  I 
must  be  excused  if  I  say  that  I  marvel  that  it  should  be 
received  as  satisfactory  by  any  body  of  intelligent  men. 
I  cannot  but  suppose  that  many  must  repudiate  it  in  private. 
"A  weaker  dynamic  affection  is  permanently  extinguished 
by  a  stronger  one."  It  is  obvious  that,  notajfactf,  but  an 
lajpothtsiis  is  here  stated; — a  mere  guess  as  to  the  mode  in 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  13 

which  remedies  net  upon  disease,  just  about  as  likely  to  be 
true  as  Cullen's  "Spasm  of  the  extreme  vessels,"  or  any 
other  previous  notion  on  the  same  subject.  And  these  are 
the  words  in  which  Hahnemann  formally  announces,  in  his 
Orgamon-,  the  "Homoeopathic  law  of  nature."  It  must  be 
observed  also  that  Hahnemann  constantly  uses  the  words 
"dynamic,"  "spiritual,"  "potency,"  &c,  by  which  he  supposes 
he  is  accounting  for  vital  and  medicinal  action,  but  these 
are  terms  to  which  he  does  not  teach  us  to  attach  definite 
ideas,  and  which  tend  to  bewilder  and  mislead,  rather  than 
to  instruct. 

The  diseases  of  man  he  says  "are  solely  spiritual  (dynamic) 
derangements  of  the  spiritual  power  that  animates  the 
human  body  (the  vital  force)."  In  all  works  on  Materia 
Medhca  from  1)iscorides  down  to  the  latest  books  on  this 
subject  .  .  all  idle  dreams,  unfounded  assumption,  and 
hypotheses,  cunningly  devised  for  the  convenience  of  thera- 
peutics .  .  but  the  essential  nature  of  diseases  will  not 
adapt  themselves  to  such  fantasies,  .  .  will  not  cease  to  be 
(spiritual)  dynamic  derangements  of  our  spiritual  vital 
principle  in  sensations  and  functions,  that  is,  immaterial 
derangements  of  the  state  of  health." 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  "  spiritual,  dynamic  derangements," 
&c,  are  as  much  hypothetical  assumptions  as  any  of  those 
which  Hahnemann  denounces. 

The  preparation  and  effects  of  the  small  doses  are  rendered 
apparently  absurd  by  the  same  mystic  style.  Medicines 
when  triturated  and  diluted  according  to  the  method  of 
Hahnemann  are  called  by  him  "  dynamizations"  and  they 
are  said  to  act  "  dynamically,"  or  "  spiritually." 

It  appears  to  me  that  it  has  been  a  great  mistake  to  obscure 
two  beautiful  discoveries,  that  of  the  principle  of  Honneo- 
pathy,  and  that  of  the  efficacy  of  the  small  dose,  by  clothing 
them  in  such  mysterious  and  unintelligible  words.  It 
constitutes  a  great  difficulty — and  a  real  obstacle  to  the 
progress  of  Homoeopathy. 

Let  truth  be  held  fast,  let  error  be  rermdiated,  and  this 
great  difficulty  will  cease  to  exist. 

12.  The  dogmatism  of  Hahnemann  is  also  a  great  stumbling 
block  and  impediment  in  the  way  of  inquirers.  Even  to 
many  of  those  who  have  put  it  aside  lor  the  purpose  of 
fair  investigation,  and  who  have  in  consequence  embraced 
Homoeopathy,  it  is  a  great  difficulty.  They  cannot  but  feel 
annoyecf  at  the  positive  and  dogmatic  tone  he  always  adopts. 
The  brightest  geniuses  and  the  most  gifted  intellects  do 
not  hesitate,  often  to  say  with  Sydenham,  "opinor,"  I  think;" 


14  THE  DIFFICULTIES 

but  such  an  expression  seems  never  to  have  escaped  from 
the  lips  of  Hahnemann.  "  His  intolerance"  writes  his  biogra- 
pher, "from  those  who  differed  from  him  latterly  attained 
to  such  a  height  that  he  used  to  say,  'He  who  does  not  walk 
on  exactly  the  same  line  with  me,  who  diverges,  if  it  be 
but  the  breadth  of  a  straw,  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  is  an 
apostate  and  a  traitor,  and  with  him  I  will  have  nothing  to 
do !'  "  Such  servile  following  as  this  must  be  declined  by 
every  true  student  of  nature.  How  inconsistent  with" 
Hahnemann's  own  early  career! 

"It  holds  good  and  will  continue  to  hold  good  as  a  Ho- 
moeopathic therapeutic  maxim,  not  to  be  rejvted  by  any 
experience  in  the  world,  that  the  best  close  of  the  proj)erly 
selected  remedy  is  always  the  very  smallest  one  in  one  of 
the  high  dynamization  (30th)  as  well  for  chronic  as  for 
acute  diseases."  He  does  not  see  how  this  sentiment  saps 
the  foundation  of  his  own  science,  which  can  rest  upon 
nothing  but  the  evidence  of  experience. 

"That  some  erring  physicians  who  w7ould  wish  to  be  con- 
sidered homceopathists  engraft  some  to  them  more  con- 
venient allopathic  bad  practices  often  upon  their  nominally 
homoeopathic  treatment  is  owing  to  ignorance  of  doctrine, 
laziness,  contempt  for  suffering  humanity,  and  ridiculous 
conceit,  and,  in  addition  to  unpardonable  negligence  in 
searching  for  the  best  Homoeopathic  specific  for  each  case 
of  disease,  has  often  a  base  love  of  gain,  and  other  dishonor- 
able motives  for  its  spring, — and  for  its  result?  that  they 
cannot  cure  all  important  and  serious  diseases,  which  pure 
and  careful  Homoeopathy  can,  and  that  they  send  many  of 
their  patients  to  that  place  whence  no  one  returns."  Surely 
no  uninspired  man  is  justified  in  assuming  such  a  tone  as  this. 

The  contrast  between  the  spirit  and  temper  of  Hahnemann 
in  his  later  years,  (he  died  in  July,  1843,  aged  89),  and  those 
of  his  earlier  life  may,  I  think,  be  in  a  great  measure  ac- 
counted for  by  two  considerations,  and  which  are  tbe  best 
apology  I  can  suggest  for  conduct  which  nothing  can  justify, 
and  few,  I  suppose,  will  undertake  to  defend. 

The  first  circumstance  I  would  mention  is  that  which 
embittered  the  whole  life  of  Hahnemann,  and  particularly 
the  earlier  periods  of  it — the  harsh  and  abusive  language 
and  unrelenting  persecution  he  received  from  his  profes- 
sional brethren,  and  from  the  apothecaries  or  druggists  of 
his  country. 

The  second  is  this,  by  the  perpetual  cultivation  of  one 
train  of  thought,  it  appears  to  me,  that  the  mind  of  Hahne- 
mann, during  the  latter  period  of  his  life,  had  nearly  reached 


OF    1IOMCEOPATHY.  15 

that  condition  which  Johnson  so  feelingly  and  so  vividly 
pourtrays  in  the  Astronomer  in  Ras§eUfx. — "One  of  the 
most  learned  astronomers  in  the  world,  who  has  spent  forty 
years  in  unwearied  attention  to  the  motions  and  appearances 
of  the  celestial  bodies,  and  has  drawn  out  his  soul  in  end- 
less calculations."  "I  have  possessed'/',  says  this  indomit- 
able student,  at  the  close  of  this  period,  "for  five  years  the 
regulation  of  the  weather,  and  the  distribution  of  the  seasons, 
the  sun  has  listened  to  my  dictates,  and  passed  from  tropic; 
to  tropic  by  my  direction;  the  clouds  at  my  call  have  poured 
their  waters,  and  the  Nile  has  overflowed  at  my  command; 
I  have  restrained  the  rage  of  the  dog-star,  and  mitigated 
the  fervors  of  the  crab.  I  have  administered  this  great 
office  with  exact  justice."  The  inconsiderate  smile  excited 
by  this  narrative  was  thus  rebuked,  "few  can  attain  this 
nuns  knowledge,  and  few  practice  his  virtues;  but  all 
may  suffer  his  calamity." 

18.  The  want  of  the  separate  details  of  the  original  ex- 
perim  mts  of  Hahnemann  upon  himself  and  his  friends,  while 
learning  the  effects  of  drugs  upon  healthy  persons,  creates 
a  difficulty  The  withholding  them  from  the  public  by 
Hahnemann  himself  was  an  error  in  judgment,  but  why 
they  are  still  refused  to  the  applications  of  the  friends  of 
Homoeopathy  by  his  widow  no  one  seems  able  to  explain. 
The  lack  must  be  supplied  by  the  self-denying  labors  of 
others,  who,  by  repeating  the  experiments  of  Hahnemann, 
will  provide  us  with  what  he  has  omitted  to  supply. 

14.  The  sectarian  spirit  of  a  portion  of  the  Homoeopathic 
body,  upon  whom  the  dogmatizing  mantle  of  the  old  age  of 
Hahnemann  seems  to  have  fallen,  is  also  a  difficulty  of  con- 
siderable magnitude  witli  those  who  wish  to  observe  care- 
fully, to  think  rationally  and  independently,  to  balance  con- 
flicting  evidence,  and  to  act  conscientiously.  It  is  a  serious 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  inquirers,  and  consequently  greatly 
retards  the  progress  of  the  reformed  practice  of  medicine. 
Were  I  to  instance  particulars  I  should  be  in  danger  of  be- 
coming personal,  which  I  am  anxious  to  avoid.  Should 
any  individuals  think  this  general  allusion  applicable  to 
themselves,  I  hope  it  may  lead  them  to  consider  how  far  it 
may  not  be  for  the  credit  of  Homoeopathy  that  they  should 
be  less  tenacious  of  every  dictum  of  Hahnemann. 

From  the  public  the  two  following  difficulties  arise: — 

15.  Want  of '  conjitlence  dependent  upon  the  apparent  in- 
sufficiency of  the  new  treatment.  Shortly  after  my  com- 
mencement of  Homoeopathy  I  was  summarily  dismissed  by 
a  patient  because  I  sent  her  some  medicine  which,  when 


16  THE    DIFFICULTIES 

taken  to  her  bedside,  looked  so  much  like  plain  water  that 
she  refused  to  take  even  a  first  dose,  and  immediately  sent 
for  another  medical  practitioner.  "  She  could  have  no  ccn- 
fidence  in  that  sort  of  medicine."  The  leeches,  and  blisters, 
and  purges  of  the  old  school  were  preferred.  "So  much," 
says  William  of  Malmesbury,  "does  ancient  custom  please, 
and  so  little  encouragement,  though  deserved,  is  given  to 
new  discoveries,  however  consistent  with  truth.  All  are 
anxious  to  grovel  in  the  old  track." 

Others,  with  more  intelligent  minds,  but  accustcmed  to 
indulge  in  doubts  rather  than  venture  upon  decision,  while 
they  see  and  acknowledge  the  evils  of  Allopathy,  and  have 
experienced  some  of  the  good  of  Homoeopathy,  endeavor 
to  stave  off  conviction  by  the  ingenious  suggestion  of  new 
grounds  for  hesitation. 

While  others  again  have  minds  so  ill-regulated  that  they 
cannot  believe  anything  for  which  they  have  taken  up  a 
dislike,  or  they  have  committed  themselves  already  so  far 
against  the  new  doctrines,  that  they  are  ashamed  to  retract 
their  condemnation;  or  they  are  so  in  bondage  to  the 
opinions  of  their  neighbors,  and  to  their  previous  connec- 
tions, that  they  dare  not  act  upon  their  own  convictions. 

This  difficulty  however  must  disappear  before  the  suc- 
cessful results  of  the  mild  treatment;  confidence  is  daily 
strengthening,  and  hereafter,  its  very  gentleness  and  pleasant- 
ness will  be  reckoned  among  its  most  obvious  advantages. 
If  a  spoonful  of  what  tastes  like  simple  water  will  really 
answer  the  purpose  better  than  a  blister  and  a  black  draught, 
it  will  be  strange  indeed  if  the  latter  continue  to  be  pre- 
ferred. Would  it  not  be  a  libel  upon  human  nature  to 
suppose  this? 

16.  The  officious e*s  of  line!  friends.  This  is  a  formi- 
dable difficulty.  It  is  an  engine  of  resistance  which  has 
.been  energetically  brought  to  bear  against  the  progress  of 
•Homoeopathy.  It  resembles  the  "Old  Guard"  of  Napoleon, 
— "it  dies,  but  never  surrenders  "  It  is  so  bent  upon  its  pur- 
Tpose  that  it  sometimes  loses  sight  of  every  other  con- 
sideration. 

"  Softer  is  the  hide  of  the  rhinoceros 
Than  the  heart  of  deriding  unbelief." 

It  succeeds  in  individual  instances,  but  it  must  die  if  it  will 
not  surrender. 

In  speaking  thus  I  venture  not  to  impeach  the  motives  of 
any  one ;  these  are  doubtless  often  full  of  kindness  and  the 
best  intentions.  Such  conduct,  however,  would  be  seen,  by 
the  light  of  a  little  calm  reflection,  to  be  inconsistent  with 


OF    HOMCEOPATIIY.  17 

that  liberty  which  individuals  ought  to  be  allowed  to  exer- 
cise in  so  personal  a  matter  as  the  mode  in  which  they  or 
their  children  shall  be  treated  when  suffering  from  disease. 
From  the  present  circumstances  of  Homceopathists  in 
England  these  difficulties  result: — 

17.  The  isolated  position  of  each  practitioner  of  the  new 
system  is  a  difficulty  which,  at  present,  affects  both  medical 
men  and  the  public.  A  second  opinion,  in  cases  of  emer- 
gency, or  when  sickness  visits,  as  it  often  does,  the  domestic 
circle  of  the  practitioner  himself,  is  often  felt  to  be  desirable, 
but  cannot  always  be  obtained.  His  anxiety  and  distress 
under  such  circumstances  are  sometimes  beyond  description. 
He  is  more  painfully  situated  in  this  respect  than  he  would 
be  in  the  backwoods  of  the  "far  west;" — he  is  not  only  alone 
as  he  would  be  there,  but  he  is  surrounded  by  opponents 
ever  on  the  watch  for  his  halting.  This  is  often  a  trying 
difficulty  and  calls  for  patience ;  but  time  is  mitigating  it 
every  day..  Medical  converts  are  rapidly  increasing,  and,  I 
trust  that  at  no  distant  period  it  will  be  spoken  of  only  as 
belonging  to  the  past. 

18.  Homoeopathy  is  made  responsible  for  the  early 
fail'ires  of  new  converts.  No  sooner  has  a  medical  man 
avowed  his  conviction  that  there  is  some  truth  in  Homoeo- 
pathy than  he  is  assailed  with  a  storm  of  ridicule  and  abuse ; 
and  notwithstanding  all  his  protestations,  if  in  any  instance 
he  happens  to  be  unsuccessful,  the  case  is  immediately 
heralded  abroad  as  a  demonstration  that  Homoeopathy  is 
"humbug,'7  The  unfairness  of  such  a  judgment  must  be 
evident  to  every  unprejudiced  person.  A  state  of  transition 
is  necessarily  a  state  of  peculiar  imperfection. 

19.  Homoeopathy  has  not  sufficient  sehoofo,  nor  any  <r>7- 
lege*,  as  yet,  in  England.  This  is,  of  course,  a  great  tempo- 
rary difficulty  and  inconvenience,  For  a  remedy  it  has  been 
proposed  to  obtain  a  charter  from  the  crown,  and  to  establish 
a  suitable  Institution,  I  have  myself  ventured  to  oppose 
this  proposal.  Were  it  accomplished,  even  in  the  best 
manner  possible,  it  would,  I  think,  bring  along  with  it  two 
great  evils ;— it  would  stereotype,  as  it  were,  the  present 
phase  of  Homoeopathy,  which  consists  of  valuable  truth 
mixed  up  with  many  hypothetical  and  damaging  materials 
derived  from  Hahnemann's  imaginative  mind,  and  from  the 
infirmities  of  the  latter  period  of  his  life;  and  it  would 
perpetuate  homceopathists  as  a  sect,  permanently  dividing 
the  profession  in  this  country  into  two  irreconcileal  >le  parties. 
Whereas,  if  the  temporary  inconvenience  be  submitted  to, 
the  two  opposite  advantages  may  be  hoped  for; — time  being 


18  THE    DIFFICULTIES 

allowed  to  investigate  Homoeopathy  more  thoroughly,  the 
chaff  may  be  winnowed  from  the  wheat,  and  the  truth  based 
upon  sufficient  evidence  to  maintain  it; — this  being  ac- 
complished, the  enlightened  portion  of  the  profession  can- 
not do  otherwise  than  adopt  it,  and  thus  it  will  become  in- 
corporated in  our  present  schools  and  colleges,  and  the 
reformation  in  medicine  like  the  English  reformation  in 
religion,  will  become  a  national  act. 

Such  are  the  temporary  difficulties  of  Homoeopathy.  They 
are  sufficiently  formidable  sometimes  to  produce,  in  minds 
not  naturally  sanguine,  a  feeling  bordering  on  despondency ; 
but  laborious  perseverance,  and  generous  courage,  founded 
uj)on  conscientious  convictions,  will  surmount  them  all. 

II.  The  difficulties  which  it  may  be  expected  will  attach 
permanently  to  Homoeopathy  are  those  which  arise  from 
the  present  condition  of  humanity,  and  which  belong  more 
or  less  even  to  those  sciences  whose  fundamental  principles 
are  best  ascertained  and  understood.  They  are  such  as  the 
following: — 

20.  A  serious  difficulty  will  always  exist  in  the  intricacy 
of  the  mechanism  of  the  human  hody,  and  in  the  mystery 
of  life.  The  derangements  in  the  healthy  structure  and 
functions  of  the  various  organs  of  the  body  must  be  hope- 
lessly hidden  from  those  who  have  not  learned  what  that 
healthy  structure,  and  those  natural  functions  are.  A 
limited  knowledge  of  these  things  may  be  acquired  by  the 
study  of  anatomy,  but  this  study  has  not  only  the  unavoid- 
able difficulties  attaching  to  it  which  need  not  be  described, 
but  it  has,  in  this  country,  both  law  and  popular  prejudice 
against  it.  As  regards  the  law  such  is  the  anomalous  position 
of  a  medical  practitioner  in  England  that  he  is  liable  to 
punishment  for  culpable  ignorance  of  that  knowledge  for 
endeavoring  to  obtain  which  he  is  also  liable  to  be  punished. 

21.  If  the  knowledge  of  diseases  be  hard  to  acquire,  the 
knowledge  of  remedies  is  scarcely  less  difficult.  Almost 
every  object  in  nature  may  claim  to  be  investigated  as  a 
remedy  for  disease.  Having  a  principle  to  guide  us  in  the 
choice  of  remedies  must  surely  be  a  great  advantage, — the 
old  method  confessedly  having  none, — nevertheless,  even 
with  the  help  of  this  principle  the  choice  will  always  require 
labor,  care,  and  study.  In  proving  a  drug,  (that  is,  in  ex- 
l^erimenting  with  it  in  health,)  to  obtain  a  distinct  notion 
of  its  sphere  of  action,  and  of  the  actual  groups  of  symp- 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  19 

toms  it  is  capable  of  producing  in  the  previously  healthy- 
body; — to  distinguish  between  the  primary  and  secondary 
actions  of  a  drug  in  proving  it,  and  to  regulate  the  use  of  it 
in  accordance  with  these  two  frequently  opposite  modes  of 
action  in  prescribing  it ; — to  learn  in  what  constitutions, 
temperaments,  and  ages  each  remedy  acts  most  success- 
fully,— is  knowledge  which  can  never  be  acquired  without 
difficulty.  The  principle  is  simple,  but  to  apply  it  skilfully 
in  practice  will  always  require  serious  and  persevering 
labor.  The  choice  of  the  dilution,  and  the  repetition  of 
the  dose,  even  should  a  principle  be  discovered  for  our 
guidance,  will  in  like  manner  always  call  for  patient  and 
diligent  research. 

22.  Great  responsibility  and  anxiety  are  inseparable  from 
an  attendance  upon  dangerous  illness ;  and  great  difficulty 
and  annoyance  also  accompany  the  care  of  all  cases  of  in- 
disposition not  severe  enough  to  compel  a  cessation  from  the 
usual  business  and  habits  of  life.  Generally,  either  these 
habits  must  be  interfered  with  beyond  what  the  patient  is 
willing  to  submit  to,  or  the  other  alternative  must  hapj)en, — 
the  medical  treatment  is  rendered  abortive  by  their  con- 
tinuance. By  the  first  both  patient  and  physician  are 
fretted  and  annoyed,  by  the  second  both  are  disappointed. 
It  need  scarcely  be  added  that  these  difficulties  belong  to 
any  mode  of  treatment  whatever  which  can  be  had  recourse 
to  in  disease. 

23.  Other  difficulties  were  well  enumerated  by  a  lady,  on 
my  asking  her,  a  short  time  ago,  if  she  intended  any  of  her 
sons  for  the  medical  profession ;  she  said  emphatically  No, 
and  for  these  reasons : — 

"The  condition  of  medicine  is  unsettled  and  unsatis- 
factory. I  hope  this  may  not  be  permanently  the  case,  but 
it  is  so  at  present. 

"  The  practice  of  it  entails  great  wear  and  tear  of  both 
mind  and  body. 

"It  is  an  occupation  for  which  persons  with  anxious  dis- 
positions, which  my  children  have,  are  entirely  unfitted. 

"  It  requires  great  bodily  health  and  strength,  which  my 
children  have  not. 

"To  be  constantly  occupied  in  seeing  people  suffer  and  in 
hearing  them  complain,  is  objectionable  on  account  of  the 
depressing  effect  it  is  likely  to  have  upon  their  minds. 

"And  the  selfishness  and  unreasonableness  of  many 
patients  and"  their  friends,  and  the  caprice  with  which  they 
act  are  almost  intolerable. 


20  THE  DIFFICULTIES 

"  With  these  views,"  she  added,  "  you  cannot  wonder  if  I 
shrink  from  booking  them  for  such  a  life  of  trouble  and 
toil."  No,  the  wonder  is  that  more  parents  are  not  of  her 
way  of  thinking.  It  would  be  better  both  for  the  public, 
and  for  the  profession,  if  the  number  of  young  men  who 
are  annually  forced  into  our  overstocked  ranks  were  very 
greatly  diminished.  I  shall  never  forget  the  first  words  I 
heard  Abernetiiy  utter;  on  entering  the  Theatre  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital,  to  give  his  Introductory  Lecture, 
in  the  year  1825,  he  stood  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets, 
and  looking  round  wistfully  on  the  crowded  audience,  he 
exclaimed, — "  God  bless  you !  what  is  to  become  of  you  all  ?" 

24.  Finally,  since  disease  and  death  are  inevitable  in  a 
sin-stricken  world,  it  follows  that,  with  the  best  directed 
efforts,  and  with  the  most  efficacious  remedies,  the  patient 
must  sometimes  suffer  a  great  deal,  be  seriously  ill,  and  at 
length  die.  The  physician  with  all  his  anxiety,  labor,  and 
skill,  will  sometimes  only  imperfectly  succeed,  and  must 
always  in  the  end  fail,  since  it  is  "  appointed  unto  all  men 
once  to  die."  This  must  always  continue  to  be  a  painful 
and  often  a  discouraging  consideration. 


The  work  of  a  Physician  is  encompassed  with  difficulties, 
his  path  beset  with  obstacles,  the  struggle  he  is  engaged  in, 
whatever  advantages  he  may  at  times  gain,  will  always  end 
in  his  defeat.  How  happy  to  meet  with  any  knowledge  by 
which  some  difficulties  may  be  diminished,  some  obstacles 
removed,  some  new  advantages  enjoyed !  Enough  will  still 
remain  to  try  to  the  uttermost  his  patience  and  temper,  his 
industry  and  perseverance. 

Were  these  difficulties,  which  at  times  almost  lay  prostrate 
the  honest  laborer  in  the  art  of  healing,  better  known  and 
felt,  they  would  enlist  on  his  behalf  the  sympathies  of  his 
fellow  men.  They  are  touchingly  alluded  to  by  the  Father 
of  Medicine  in  his  first  Aphorism : 

"  Of  Btoc  fipaxvg,  f)  de:  rexvq  {lanprj, 
b  de  naipbg  6<%vg,  ij  <5t  nelpa  o^aXepi], 
i]  6t  ttpioig  xatenrj." 

"  Life  is  short,  and  Art  is  long  ; 
occasion  fleeting  ;  experience  fallacious, 
and  judgment  difficult." 

They  were  no  doubt  present  to  the  mind  of  the  son  of  Sirach 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY^  21 

when  he  said,  "  Honor  the  Physician  with  the  honor  due 
unto  him,  for  the  Lord  hath  created  him." 

###### 

"  Imlac  was  proceeding  to  aggrandize  his  own  profession, 
when  th  prince  cried  out, '  Enough !  thou  hast  convinced  me 
that  no  human  heing  can  ever  be  a  poet,  Proceed  with  thy 
narrative.' 

ki  i  To  be  a  poet,'  said  Imlac,  '  is  indeed  very  difficult'  '  So 
difficult,'  replied  the  prince,  '  that  I  will  at  present  hear  no 
more  of  his  difficulties.' "  # 


*  Rasselas. 


Rugby,  March  10th,  1854. 


(Tracts  on  |)omirop;itI|i).-|lo.  6. 


THE   ADVANTAGES 


OP 


HOMEOPATHY. 


BY    WILLIAM    SHARP,    M.D.,    F.R.S. 


««7 

SITY 


F.    E.    BOERICKE: 

HAHNEMANN    PUBLISHING    HOUSE, 
PHILADELPHIA. 


PREFACE. 


I  "write  a  preface  for  the  sake  of  obtaining  a  blank  page  for  a  beautiful  Greek 
Fragment,  and  an  equally  beautiful  Translation.  The  latter  has  been  written  at 
my  request  for  this  Number  of  the  Tracts.  The  author,  Mr.  Charles  Edwaiic 
Oakley,  to  whom  I  am  affectionately  attached,  has  been,  for  five  years,  an 
ornament  of  Rugby  School,  and  is  now  distinguishing  himself  at  the  University 
of  Oxford. 

Rughy,  August  21th,  1863. 


ODE   TO    HEALTIL 


*  Tyieta  TvpecjiicTa  Matcdpov, 
Merd  gov  vaioi/ui 
Td  'Aeiiro/iiEvov  fStorug' 
1,v  6e  fioc  TrpoQpuv  avvoLKog  elrjg. 
E'!  yap  nq  V  kXovtov  xu-ptQ  V  TSKfae 

Tag  evdaific-Qe  r'  dvdp6-ocg 
BacOiTjidog  dpxag  rj  tto^w-'. 
Oi!^  upvfyioLc  'AtypodlTTjg  dpuvaiv  drjpevofiCr 
*H  el  Tig  uX?\.a  Oeodev  avOpuTroig  rtpipir, 

"H  itovgjv  d/j.7Tvod  Trityavrai' 
Merd  oeio,  p.dnaipa  'Tyieta, 
Ti6?]2,e  Trdvra  nai  Xu/xTzet  xaptruv  kapr 

'Ltdev  6k  xuph-  ovdelg  evdaifiun'  nito 


(translation.) 

Health  !  Eldest-Born  of  all 

The  Blessed  ones  that  be, 
Through  life's  remainder,  howe'er  smaU 
Still  may  I  dwell  with  thee! 
And  thou  with  me, 
A  willing  guest, 
Oh  !  take  thy  rest ! 
For  all  man  hath  on  earth,  Blest  Health — 
Each  nobler  gift — as,  children,  wealth, 
The  bliss  of  kingly  government, 
With  that  desiring  uncontent. 
We  fain  would  seek,  we  fain  would  move, 
In  th'  undiscovered  toils  of  love; 
These — or  each  other  utmost  pleasure 
Alan  hath  from  heaven,  his  dearest  treasure, 
And  amid  all  his  earthly  moil 
The  sweet  forgetfulncss  of  toil ; — 
With  thee,  Blest  Health!    Health  ever  young! 
With  thee  they  grew,  from  thee  they  sprui 
Spung  of  all  gifts  from  heaven  that'lhll, 
Thou  art  the  sunshine  of  them  all! — 
Yet  all  are  turned  to  misery 
For  him  that  lives  bereft  of  thee. 

C.  E.  Oakley, 

Demy  of  Maglulen  College,  Oxford 


THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  HOMEOPATHY. 


"What  tortures  inflicted  on  patients  might  have  been  dispensed  with,  had 
few  simple  principles  been  earlier  recognized."  Sir  John  Heeschel. 


Pltjtakch  says,  in  his  life  of  Demosthenes,  "  I  live  in  a 
small  town,  and  I  choose  to  live  there  lest  it  should  become 
♦.still  smaller."*  For  myself,  I  have  joined  a  small  company 
of  physicians,  and  I  choose  to  remain  with  them  for  Plu- 
taech's  reason,  but  still  more  for  Lord  Bacon's.  I  believe 
they  are  "  standing  upon  the  vantage-ground  of  truth,  and  see 
the  errors  and  wanderings,  and  mists  and  tempests  in  the  vale 
below." 

I  am  also  anxious  to  induce  others  to  join  this  company 
and  to  share  in  its  advantage ;  and,  therefore,  instead  of  writ- 
ing a  Tract,  as  it  would  be  easy  to  do,  on  the  evils  of  the  old 
physic,  I  prefer  the  more  agreeable  duty  of  inviting  my  read- 
er's attention  to  the  superior  claims  of  the  new  method. 

The  ignorance  of  Allopathy  is  darkness  which  may  be 
felt — and  it  is  felt,  witness  the  confessions  of  its  most  eminent 
professors.  It  has  been  described  as  "  the  art  of  putting  large 
doses  of  poisonous  drugs,  of  which  we  know  little,  into  living 
bodies  of  which  we  know  less." 

The  uncertainty  of  Allopathy  is  worse  than  can  be  credited 
by  any  non-professional  person.  A  gentleman,  a  neighbor  of 
mine,  lately  spoke  of  it  as  "the  regular  steady  practice  ac- 
cording to  rule."  What  rule?  I  know  of  none.  "  There  is 
no  truth  in  physic,"  said  an  experienced  practitioner  to  me, 
many  years  ago.  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  have  painfully 
shared  in  his  feelings. 

The  cruelties  of  Allopathy  are  indescribable.  They  are 
perpetrated  from  good  motives  and  with  the  best  intentions, 
but  they  are  such  as  nothing  but  the  fear  of  death  and  the 
force  of  custom,  more  powerful  than  a  second  nature,  could 
have  induced  mankind  to  submit  to. 

But  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  dwell  upon  the  ignorance,  the 

*  "  'H/zctf  (5f  iwcodv  diKovvrec  ttoXcv  Kai  iva  fir/  fwcpoTepa  -yevrjrai  <j>t2.ox(jpovvTeg.n 


6  THE  ADVANTAGES 

uncertainty,  or  the  cruelty  of  the  old  practice.  One  might 
indeed  be  provoked  to  do  so  by  the  conduct  of  the  disciples 
of  this  school,  who  appropriate  to  themselves  exclusively  the 
title  of  "regular"  and  legitimate;"  as  if  the  adoption  of  a 
principle,  where  there  was  none  before,  and  the  adaptation  of 
the  dose  to  a  standard  of  safety  and  efficiency,  constituted  a 
practice  irregular  and  unlawful.  Dr.  Paris  or  Dr.  Simpson 
may  "  draw  a  bow  at  a  venture,"  and  give  a  quarter  of  a 
grain  of  arsenic  at  a  dose,  but  Dr.  Eussell  or  Dr.  Eamsbo- 
tham  may  not,  under  the  guidance  of  a  rule,  give  the  hun- 
dredth or  the  thousandth  part  of  a  grain  of  the  same  poison, 
without  being  charged  with  irregularity  and  quackery.  Such 
conduct  betrays  great  ignorance  both  of  their  own  position 
and  of  ours.  It  would  be  very  easy  to  show  from  the  Phar- 
macopeia of  the  Eoyal  College  of  Physicians,  and  from  the 
daily  prescriptions  of  the  "regular"  practitioners,  on  which 
side  real  quackery  prevails.  This  at  least  must  be  obvious, 
that  whatever  prospect  of  curing  either  party  may  have,  there 
will  be  greater  risk  of  hilling  the  patient  with  the  large  dose 
of  arsenic  than  with  the  small  one. 

But  truth  takes  no  cognizance  of  abusive  appellations.  They 
may  for  a  time  cover  her  with  disgrace,  and  hide  her  beauty 
from  the  public  gaze,  but  they  can  not  change  her  character, 
nor  transform  her  into  falsehood.  The  consciousness  of  pos- 
sessing her  gives  true  courage,  and  teaches  the  physician  to 
take  his  place  beside  his  patient  with  dignified  benevolence 
and  intelligent  confidence.  An  adequate  knowledge  of  the 
new  system  will  enable  him  to  administer  some  simple  means 
which,  in  acute  disease,  will  often  give  relief  in  a  few  moments, 
and  in  chronic  cases,  will  also  frequently,  after  reasonable  per- 
severance, restore  the  long-afflicted  patient  to  health  and  use- 
fulness. 

Who  can  estimate  the  value  of  health  f  A  measure  of  its 
worth  may  be  seen  in  the  multitude  of  resources  to  which 
men  flee  in  the  hope  of  recovering  it  when  lost.  Its  precious- 
ness  is  still  more  vividly  reflected  from  the  page  of  inspira- 
tion, where  we  see,  in  so  many  instances,  the  Divine  power 
mercifully  exerted  to  restore  it. 

It  is  my  business,  in  the  present  paper,  to  show  that  Ho- 
moeopathy is  the  safest  and  best  human  method  to  be  used  for 
the  recovery  of  health  which  has  yet  been  discovered ;  that  it 
is  superior  to  all  other  modes,  whether  professional  or  empiri- 
cal, which  have  ever  before  been  tried ;  and  that  consequently 
it  is  alike  the  duty  and  the  interest  of  all  men  without  excep- 
tion to  adopt  it. 


OF  HOMCEOPATHY.  7 

I  shall  aim  at  producing  the  conviction  that  its  claims  "both 
on  the  physician  and  on  the  patient  are  above  suspicion  and 
beyond  dispute;  always  bearing  in  remembrance  that  "our 
life  is  but  as  a  vapor  which  appears  for  a  little  while,  and  then 
vanishes  away." 

I.  The  advantages  to  the  Physician  are  three-fold  ;  they  are 
these : 

1.  The  emancipation  of  his  mind  from  doubt  and  confusion. 

2.  The  provision  of  a  guide. 

3.  The  simplicity  of  the  means. 

II.  The  advantages  to  the  patient  are  likewise  three-fold ; 
they  are  as  follow : 

1.  The  banishment  of  nauseous  drugs,  and  painful  and  de- 
bilitating applications. 

2.  Greatly  increased  efficacy  and  success. 

3.  Deliverance  from  medicinal  diseases,  and  other  destruc- 
tive consequences  of  former  methods  of  treatment. 


L— THE  ADVANTAGES  TO  THE  PHYSICIAN. 

1.   The  emancipation  of  his  mind  from  doubt  and  confusion. 

Interest  often  conceals,  if  it  does  not  deny  truth,  and  it 
would  not  be  surprising  if  the  world  had  been  kept  in  ignor- 
ance of  the  confusion  and  uncertainty  in  which  medical  men 
are  involved.  They  have,  however,  been  frequently  acknow- 
ledged by  men  of  integrity  and  reputation.  No  exception 
can  be  taken  to  the  evidence  of  such  a  witness  as  Ctjllen  to 
the  erroneous  doctrines  and  conflicting  practices  of  legitimate 
physic  previous  to  the  discovery  of  Homoeopathy.  It  is  above 
suspicion  and  beyond  dispute. 

Now  Cullen,  in  the  introduction  to  his  great  work  on  the 
Materia  Medica,  gives  an  outline  of  the  history  of  Medicine, 
which  may  be  briefly  epitomised  as  follows : 

The  Egyptians. — Medicine  "is  known  to  have  been  under 
such  regulations  as  must  have  been  a  certain  obstacle  to  its 
progress  and  improvement."  These  regulations  were,  that  the 
treatment  of  diseases  was  directed  by  fixed  rules  written  in 
their  sacred  books  ;  while  these  rules  were  observed,  the  phy- 
sician was  not  answerable  for  their  success,  but  if  he  tried 
other  means,  a  failure  cost  him  his  life.  Many  of  the  "regu- 
lar" physicians  of  our  time  must  have  visited  the  pyramids — ■ 
they  have  imbibed  so  much  of  the  Egyptian  spirit. 

The  Greeks. — Hippocrates.  These  writings  afford  "  a  pre- 
carious and  uncertain  information." 


8  THE  ADVANTAGES 

Djoscokides  "has  been  transcribed  by  almost  every  writer 
since ;  but  that  this  has  been  owing  to  the  real  value  of  his 
writings  it  is  not  easy  to  perceive." 

Galen.  "We  find  nothing  in  his  writings  sufficient  to 
excuse  the  insolence  with  which  he  treats  his  predecessors, 
nor  to  support  the  vanity  he  discovers  with  regard  to  his  own 
performances."  His  theory  is  "  false  and  inapplicable,"  yet 
"  implicitly  followed  by  all  the  physicians  of  Asia,  Africa,  and 
Europe,  for  at  least  1500  years  after  his  time."  This  "  particu- 
larly marks  out  how  much  a  veneration  for  antiquity  has  re- 
tarded science." 

The  Arabians. — "It  does  not  appear  that  they  made  any 
improvements." 

Revival  in  Europe. — "Nothing  new  appeared  among  the 
physicians  of  Europe  while  they  continued  to  be  the  servile 
followers  of  the  Arabians." 

On  the  taking  of  Constantinople  in  1453,  the  Greek  writings 
were  dispersed,  and  the  Greek  party  prevailed. 

In  more  recent  times  physic  has  "made  very  little  progress 
among  persons  who  are  almost  entirely  the  bigoted  followers 
of  the  ancients."     So  far  Dr.  Cullen. 

It  is  true  that  since  this  last  period  we  have  had  many  novel- 
ties in  the  theory  and  practice  of  physic :  Stahl,  Hoffman, 
Boerhaave,  Cullen  himself,  Brown,  and  Broussais,  with 
many  others,  have  striven  to  throw  some  light  upon  the  dark 
subject,  but  in  vain.  The  discovery  that  "similia  similibus 
curantur"  is  the  first  ray  which  has  illumined  the  gloom,  the 
first  "method"  by  which  the  confusion  has  been  reduced  to 
regularity.  This  has  turned  night  into  day,  chaos  into  order, 
doubt  into  confidence,  a  random  shot  into  a  careful  aim,  a  haz- 
ardous and  empirical  experiment  into  a  precise  and  intelligent 
proceeding.  The  physician  who  has  investigated  and  embraced 
this  principle  feels  conscious  that  his  mind  is  cleared  of  useless 
and  endless  speculations,  and  filled  with  a  truth  applicable 
every  moment,  and  of  the  highest  practical  value. 

That  the  physician  remaining  in  the  old  school  is  bewildered 
with  opposing  theories,  and  oppressed  with  an  accumulation 
of  heterogeneous  and  unarranged  materials,  is  known  and  ac- 
knowledged ;  that  the  Homoeopathic  physician  is  freed  from  all 
these  burdens  is  obvious :  that  this  is  a  great  advantage  must 
be  above  suspicion  and  beyond  dispute. 

2 .   The  pro  vision  of  a  guit  le. 

Those  who  have  traversed  the  dark  mountain  with  a  trusty 
guide,  or  who  have  crossed  the  trackless  ocean  with  the  mari- 
ners compass,  can  in  some  measure  understand  the  feelings  of 


OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  9 

the  physician  who  has  found  a  principle  to  assist  him  in  the 
choice  of  remedies  for  his  patients ;  but  it  is  so  great  an  advan- 
tage that  it  can  not  be  sufficiently  appreciated  by  those  who 
are  not  practically  acquainted  with  it. 

Liebig  affirms  that  the  discovery  of  combination  in  fixed 
proportions  called  chemical  equivalents,  "which  regulates  and 
governs  all  chemical  actions,  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  most 
important  acquisition  of  the  present  century,  and  the  most  pro- 
ductive in  its  results."*  He  ascribes  the  first  discovery  of  it 
to  Kichter,  (a  Grerman,)  and  the  "extending  and  completing 
our  knowledge"  of  it  to  Dalton,  (an  Englishman.) 

The  law  of  similia  similibus  curantur,  which  "regulates  and 
governs"  all  medical  actions,  is  of  still  greater  importance  to 
the  well-being  of  man. 

The  physician  who  commits  himself  to  its  guidance  will  find 
it  simple  and  intelligible,  safe  and  merciful ;  and,  moreover, 
that  it  secures  a  certainty  of  knowledge  by  requiring  that  only 
one  remedy  be  given  at  a  time ;  that  it  is  not  dependent  upon 
any  theory  of  disease,  nor  upon  any  hypothetical  explanation 
of  its  mode  of  action  for  its  easy  and  successful  application ; . 
that  it  is  applicable  to  all  cases  of  disease,  and  in  all  countries 
and  climates,  all  ages  and  circumstances. 

I  am  fond  of  illustrations.  They  possess  a  double  recom- 
mendation ;  they  explain  an  axiom  and  impress  it  upon  the 
mind  better  than  any  mere  definition  or  description,  and  they 
relieve  a  didactic  or  argumentative  composition  of  its  dullness. 
While,  therefore,  I  must  refer  my  readers  to  Tract  No.  3  for 
many  examples  of  the  mode  of  applying  the  principle  of 
Homoeopathy  in  practice,  I  will  find  room  here  for  a  brief  notice 
of  two  cases  which  have  lately  occurred  to  me. 

In  Tract  No.  4  the  disease-producing  powers  of  Ipecacuanha, 
in  minutely-divided  doses,  are  described :  among  the  morbid 
effects   thus   produced  are  asthma  and   haemorrhage.      Miss 

W consulted  me  for  a  severe  attack  of  spasmodic  asthma, 

to  which  she  was  very  liable ;  I  gave  her  a  few  doses  of  the 
second  dilution  of  Ipecacuanha,  which  gave  her  immediate 

relief,  and  in  a  little  while  removed  the  attack.     Miss  S , 

who  had  been  long  ill  with  disease  in  the  chest,  with  a  large 
abscess  in  the  posterior  part  of  the  left  lung,  was  suddenly  seize*  1, 
while  on  a  journey  at  a  distance  of  seventy  miles  from  me, 
with  a  copious  spitting  of  blood.  This  information  was  sent 
to  me  by  telegraph,  and  I  immediately  forwarded  to  her  by 
railway  some  Ipecacuanha.     The  following  morning  I  received 

*  "  Letteis  on  Chemistry,"  Second  Scries. 


10  THE  ADVANTAGES 

another  telegraphic  message,  followed,  shortly  after,  by  a  letter 
from  her  mother,  stating  that  the  first  dose  had  arrested  the 
bleeding,  and  that  my  patient  had  not  coughed  once  all  night, 
only  once  in  the  morning  without  expectoration,  which  pre- 
viously had  been  copious,  and  that  she  had  enjoyed  some 
breakfast.  There  has  been  no  return  of  the  haemorrhage,  and 
under  the  influence  of  Phosphorus  this  very  severe  case  of 
disease  has  been  going  on  favorably  for  above  two  months. 
The  young  lady  can  now  walk  a  mile  or  more  without  fatigue. 

Those  who  have  experienced  the  comfort  and  benefit  of  such 
a  guide  as  the  principle  of  similia  similibus  curantur  will  not 
be  easily  induced  to  venture  without  it  into  the  pathless  wil- 
derness of  medical  treatment.  A  single  example  will  give 
some  idea  of  the  distressing  uncertainty  with  which  the  in- 
structions for  treatment  are  given  by  the  teachers  of  the  old 
school.  The  cure  of  dropsy  is  thus  laid  down  by  the  first  phy- 
sician of  France  of  the  last  age : 

"  The  cure  may  be  begun  by  blood-letting  in  certain  condi- 
tions ;  but  in  otlvrs  it  can  not  be  employed  luiihout  danger.  It 
gives  relief  in  difficult  breathing;  but  after  it  is  practised  the 
symptoms  are  aggravated  and  rendered  more  obstinate.  It  is  not 
to  be  concealed,  that  some  persons  have  been  cured  by  repeated 
blood-lettings,  or  spontaneous  haemorrhages ;  but  it  is  at  the 
same  time  known  that  such  a  remedy,  inopportunely  employed,  has 
in  many  instances  hastened  on  the  fatal  event."* 

Every  one  familiar  with  the  literature  of  his  profession,  will 
admit  that  this  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  general  result  of  his 
reading.  How  delightful  to  pass  from  this  state  of  uncertainty, 
arising  from  conflicting  human  authorities,  to  the  absolute  and 
invariable  direction  of  a  natural  guide ! 

That  the  physician  of  the  old  method  has  no  principle  to 
guide  him  is  known  and  acknowledged ;  that  the  homoeopathic 
physician  has  such  a  principle,  is  obvious;  that  this  is  a  great 
advantage,  must  be  above  suspicion  and  beyond  dispute. 

3.   The  simplicity  of  the  m°ans. 

"Look!  what  will  serve  is  fit,"  says  nature's  poet ;  and  the 
nearer  we  approach  to  simplicity,  in  the  means  we  use,  the 
nearer  we  approach  to  nature's  perfection.  Physicians  have 
been  vigorously  wielding  the  club  of  Giant  Despair,  while  they 
ought  to  have  been  observing  and  endeavoring  to  imitate  the 
operations  of  nature,  in  which  mighty  effects  are  continually 
being  brought  about  by  apparently  insignificant  but  really 
efficacious  means. 

*  Licutaud,  "  Synopsis  uuivorsic  medicinac." 


OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  11 

Among  the  many  examples  which  surround  us  I  will  men- 
tion only  one.  Little  grains  of  sand  are  unlikely  materials 
wherewith  to  roll  back  the  encroachments  of  the  mighty  waters ; 
but  practically  they  are  found  to  be  more  permanently  effectual 
for  this  purpose  than  cliffs  of  solid  earth.  In  like  manner, 
little  grains  of  medicine,  in  the  hands  of  the  homoeopathist, 
however  improbable  it  may  appear  beforehand  and  without 
experience,  are  found  practically  to  be  more  efficacious  in  ar- 
resting the  progress  of  disease  than  the  complicated  mixtures 
and  poisonous  doses  of  allopathy. 

To  borrow  an  expression  which  Dr.  Chalmers  often  used 
in  conversation,  both  these  are  instances  of  the  "power  of 
littles." 

The  sight  of  all  the  materials  in  the  hands  of  the  old  phy- 
sician and  surgeon  "is  enough  to  make  a  man  serious."  These 
are  lancets,  cupping-glasses,  and  leeches  ;  blisters,  setons,  issues, 
moxas,  caustics,  and  cauteries ;  emetics  and  purgatives,  sudor- 
ifics  and  sialagogues,  diuretics  and  expectorants,  anodynes, 
tonics,  and  stimulants,  with  all  the  "  luxuriancy  of  composition" 
of  which  Cullen  so  often  speaks. 

The  whole  course  of  medical  treatment,  as  usually  practised, 
is  a  rude  and  rough  procedure,  as  far  as  possible  removed  from 
the  delicacy  required  from  us  when  we  would  try  to  regulate 
the  exquisite  machinery  of  the  living  body.  It  is  the  black- 
smith undertaking  with  his  pincers  to  repair  a  watch. 

Homoeopathy,  it  is  well  known,  discards  all  these  complex 
and' formidable  weapons,  and  prescribes  a  single  remedy  at  a 
time,  and  that  to  be  chosen  according  to  an  invariable  rule,  to 
be  prepared  with  the  greatest  care,  and  given  in  the  smallest 
dose. 

That  the  means  made  use  of  by  the  physicians  of  the  old 
treatment  are  complicated,  unwieldy,  and  violent,  is  known 
and  acknowledged ;  that  the  means  used  by  the  homoeopathic 
physicians  are  simple  and  easy  of  application,  is  obvious  ;  that 
this  is  a  great  advantage,  must  be  above  suspicion  and  beyond 
dispute. 

I  recommend  these  three  advantages  to  the  serious  consider- 
ation of  my  medical  brethren. 

II.— THE  ADVANTAGES  TO  THE  PATIENT. 

1.  The  banishment  of  nauseous  dri  \gs  and  painfid  and  debilitat* 
ing  applications. 

I  give  here  a  sketch  of  the  old  chafing  dish  and  actual  cau- 
tery, as  the  red-hot  iron  was  called,  and  which  ha.^  1  een  used 


12 


THE   ADVANTAGES 


for  a  long  period.     I  witnessed,  as  I  trust,  the  expiring  embers 
of  this  fire  in  the  Military  Hospital  in  Paris,  under  the  care  of 


the  Baron  Larrey,  as  described  in  Tract  No.  1.  In  the  next 
generation  I  hope  it  will  be  necessary  to  represent  several  other 
processes  yet  had  recourse  to,  as  well  as  to  describe  the  calomel 
pill,  the  bJack  draught,  the  steel  mixture,  the  bark  decoction, 
the  opiurr  bolus,  and  the  bitter  infusion,  of  which  no  descrip- 
tion need  oe  given  to  the  present  age. 

Now,  notwitstanding  that  some  people  cling  to  their  torments 
as  the  Prince  did  to  his  Falstaff,  I  can  not  but  think  that,  by 
the  majority  of  patients,  •  the  banishment  of  all  these  painful 
operations  and  nauseous  doses  must  be  felt  to  be  a  great  deliver- 
ance. 

The  avoiding  of  blood-letting,  and  of  the  weakness  caused  by 
such  loss  of  the  vital  fluid,  is  of  itself  a  sufficient  triumph  for 
the  new  system ;  but  when  it  is  remembered  that  every  pain- 
ful and  debilitating  process,  along  with  every  disagreeable  dose, 
is  for  ever  abandoned,  how  great  is  the  emancipation,  how 
substantial  the  triumph ! 

It  is  now  contended  by  some  medical  men  that  during  the 
last  few  years  the  character  of  diseases  has  become  so  altered 
that  bleeding  is  no  longer  necessary.  One  of  these  practition- 
ers urged  this  remark  upon  a  patient  of  mine  the  other  day, 
and  added  that  Homoeopathy  had  derived  great  advantage  from 
this  change  in  the  character  of  diseases. 

But  let  me  ask  any  unprejudiced  person  which  of  these  two 


OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  13 

suppositions  is  most  likely  to  be  true :  that,  contemporaneous- 
ly with  the  introduction  of  Homoeopathy,  the  course  of  nature 
was  suddenly  altered,  and  the  character  of  diseases  changed; 
or  that,  from  various  considerations,  and  among  them  the  suc- 
cess of  Homoeopathy,  physicians  have  been  induced  to  lay  aside 
the  lancet,  and  to  try  a  milder  treatment,  and  finding  this  suc- 
ceed better  than  severe  measures,  they  have  invented  the  former 
supposition  to  save  themselves  from  the  acknowledgment  of 
error. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  the  amelioration  which  has  taken 
place  in  the  severity  of  the  usual  practice,  since  the  introduction 
of  Homoeopathy  ,and  which  is  a  tacit  admission  of  its  superior 
success,  the  difference  between  the  two  in  respect  to  this  com- 
parative severity  and  mildness  is  still  very  great.  A  few  in- 
stances will  make  this  sufficiently  apparent. 

In  apoplexy,  locked-jaw,  and  other  similar  cases,  where  the 
power  of  swallowing  is  lost,  and  large  doses  of  medicine  can 
not  possibly  be  given,  and  where  consequently  the  allopathic 
physician,  if  he  does  not  bleed  and  blister,  is  able  to  do  scarcely 
any  thing,  the  homceopathist  is  at  no  loss  how  to  proceed ;  his 
drop  or  gobule  placed  within  the  lips  lias  still  power  to  act,  as 
I  have  myself  witnessed,  to  the  complete  restoration  of  the 
patient. 

In  cases  of  acute  inflammation  in  delicate  persons,  where  the 
lojal  disease  seems  to  call  for  depletion  and  a  lowering  treat- 
ment, and  the  constitution  at  the  same  time  urgently  requires 
to  be  strengthened,  the  practitioner  on  the  old  plan  is  placed 
between  Scylla  and  Charybdis ;  his  efforts  to  relieve  the  inflam- 
mation, in  proportion  to  their  activity,  increase  the  general 
weakness ;  while  the  homceopathist  meets  with  nothing  to  per- 
plex him,  and  can  do  good  without  doing  harm. 

Again,  the  suffering  spared  to  children  is  immense,  and  must 
call  forth  the  grateful  feelings  of  *all  parents.  Their  beautiful 
bodies,  uninjured  by  previous  dosing,  are  susceptible  of  all  the 
actions  of  the  new  remedies,  and  capable  of  deriving  all  the 
benefits  which  such  actions  can  impart. 

That  patients  treated  after  the  old  method  are  still  often 
severely  handled  by  their  physicians  is  known  and  acknow- 
ledged ;  that  they  wholly  escape  this  rough  usage  under  the 
new  method  is  obvious;  that  this  is  a  great  advantage  must 
be  above  suspicion  and  beyond  dispute. 

2.   Gr  ally -increased  efficacy  and  success. 

Some  object  to  the  possibility  of  this  under  any  treatment, 
and  contend  that  the  duration  of  life  is  not  within  the  power 
or  control  of  man.     This  is  true  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  ex- 


14  THE   ADVANTAGES 

pression ;  bat  if  a  lower  meaning  be  attached  to  it,  then  it  is 
not  true,  and  life  may  be  prolonged  by  our  own  endeavors, 
In  England,  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  one  out  of  every 
twenty-five  of  the  population  died  each  year.  Fifty  years 
ago  the  proportion  was  one  in  thirty-five ;  now  it  is  less  than 
one  in  forty-five.  So  that  the  number  of  deaths  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  people  is  only  one  half  what  it  was  a  while 
ago.  This  addition  to  life  is  to  be  attributed  mainly  to  more 
wholesome  food,  warmer  clothing,  greater  cleanliness,  and  bet- 
ter habits :  so  much  having  been  thus  accomplished,  it  is  not 
unreasonable  to  hope  that  still  more  may  be  effected  by  the 
blessing  of  God  on  these  and  other  means. 

I  must  next  observe  that  all  success  in  medical  treatment  is 
comparative.  In  London,  about  a  thousand  persons,  of  all 
ages,  die  every  week ;  for  the  most  part  these  have  died  under 
allopathic  treatment.  Now  if  any  mode  of  medical  relief  can 
be  devised  which  shall  diminish,  however  slightly,  this  rate  of 
mortality,  it  deserves  to  be  substituted  for  the  older  methods. 
The  amount  of  general  sickness  greatly  exceeds  the  amount  of 
mortality ;  whatever  treatment  diminishes,  however  little,  the 
number  of  deaths,  will  diminish  very  much  the  quantity  of 
sickness. 

Homoeopathy  is  a  mode  of  treatment  capable  of  being  uni- 
versally adopted^  and  should  it  be  found  on  trial  only  to  equal 
in  efficiency  former  methods,  for  the  reasons  given  under  the  last 
head,  it  is  much  to  be  preferred.  Should  such  a  trial  prove  it 
to  possess  superior  efficacy,  how  greatly  is  that  preference  en- 
hanced ! 

These  comparative  results  are  obtainable  in  two  ways ;  by 
public  hospital  reports,  and  by  individual  trials  in  private  prac- 
tice. Through  the  industry  of  Dr.  Routh,  we  have  been  fur- 
nished with  a  considerable  collection  of  European  hospital  re- 
turns, and  how  much  these  tell  in  favor  of  Homoeopathy  may 
be  seen  in  Tract  No.  2.  The  results  of  an  individual  trial  in 
private,  as  made  by  myself,  are  given  in  Tracts  Nos.  3  and  4. 
This  trial  also  testifies  to  the  great  superiority  of  the  new  treat- 
ment. If  my  readers  will  give  these  results  their  thoughtful 
contemplation  my  belief  is,  that  the  conclusion  that  the  new 
treatment  is  followed  by  greatly  increased  success,  will  be  irre- 
sistibly forced  upon  their  minds. 

I  grant  that  it  is  difficult  to  produce  a  conviction  of  this  in- 
creased efficacy  and  success  of  Homoeopathy.  But  this  dim* 
culty  arises,  not  from  the  increased  efficacy  and  success  being 
slight,  or  such  as  can  be  readily  denied,  but  from  the  ingenuity 
exercised  by  opposing  parties  to  evade  the  force  of  the  evid  slice 


OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  15 

in  support  of  it,  by  suggesting  other  modes  of  accounting  for 
and  explaining  it.  Many  reject  this  evidence  because  they 
reason  about  it  and  conclude  it  improbable;  forgetting  that 
experience  will  often  teach  us  what  reason  can  not.  Others 
neglect  it  because  they  will  not  take  the  trouble,  or  think  they 
have  not  the  time  to  examine  it.  Others  again  require  an 
amount  of  demonstration  which  the  subject  does  not  admit  of. 
For  myself  I  have  as  much  certainty  upon  this  point  as  Locke 
expresses  in  the  following  sentences  : 

"  Though  it  be  highly  probable  that  millions  of  men  do  now 
exist,  yet  whilst  I  am  alone  writing  this,  I  have  not  that  cer- 
tainty of  it,  which  we  strictly  call  knowledge ;  though  the  great 
likelihood  of  it  puts  me  past  doubt,  and  it  is  reasonable  for  me 
to  do  several  things  upon  the  confidence  that  there  are  men,  (and 
men  also  of  my  acquaintance,  with  whom  I  have  to  do,)  now  in 
the  world.  Whereby  we  may  observe  how  foolish  and  vain  a 
thing  it  is  for  a  man  of  a  narrow  knowledge,  who  having  reason 
given  him  to  judge  of  the  different  evidence  and  probability 
of  things,  and  to  be  swayed  accordingly ;  how  vain,  I  say,  it  is 
to  expect  demonstration  and  certainty  in  things  not  capable  of  it, 
and  refuse  assent  to  very  rational  propositions,  and  act  con- 
trary to  very  plain  and  clear  truths,  because  they  can  not  be 
macle  out  so  evident,  as  to  surmount  even  the  least  (I  will  not 
say  reason,  but)  pretense  of  doubting.  He  that  in  the  ordinary 
affairs  of  life  would  admit  of  nothing  but  direct  plain  demon- 
stration, would  be  sure  of  nothing  in  this  world  but  of  perishing 
quickly?* 

Were  the  method  more  disagreeable  and  painful  than  the 
old  one,  a  reluctance  to  yield  to  the  evidence  in  its  favor, 
at  least  on  the  part  of  patients,  would  not  be  surprising;  and 
it  would  be  reasonable  to  expect  that  any  class  of  medical 
men  endeavoring  to  persuade  the  public  into  its  adoption, 
would  meet  with  great  difficulty  in  doing  so;  but  when  the 
case  is  conspicuously  the  reverse  of  this,  it  seems  unnatural 
and  strange  that  its  introduction  should  be  so  strenuously 
resisted. 

Again,  were  the  practice  of  Homoeopathy  one  which  the 
profession  could  not  possibly  adopt,  and  which  transferred  the 
treatment  of  disease  to  another  class  of  persons,  it  would  not 
be  surprising  to  find  that  medical  practitioners  opposed  its 
progress;  but  when  t'  is  otherwise,  it  is  deeply  to  be 

lamented  that,  through  ignorance,  they  set  themselves  so 
strongly  against  the  new  method,  and  are  unwilling  to  under- 
take even  its  patient  investigation. 

♦Louie's  "  Essay  on  the  Hum:  .  ip  x\.,  §  9,  10. 


16  THE   ADVANTAGES 

Nevertheless,  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  every  fair  trial  of 
Homoeopathy  will  confirm  all  previous  trials,  and  lead  to  the 
same  conclusion  as  to  its  superior  efficacy  and  success ;  and 
therefore,  I  can  not  but  believe  that  it  will  be  universally 
adopted,  and  that  neither  the  fears  of  the  public,  nor  the  preju- 
dices of  the  profession,  however  they  may  retard  this  consumma- 
tion, can  ultimately  prevent  it. 

For  that  patients  often  die,  suffer  much  from  their  ailments, 
and  have  long  convalescences  under  the  old  treatment  is  known 
and  acknowledged ;  that  they  less  frequently  die,  suffer  less, 
and  have  shorter  convalescences  under  homoeopathic  treatment, 
(from  the  cases  reported  in  Tracts  No.  2,  No.  3,  and  No.  4,)  is 
obvious ;  that  this  is  a  great  advantage  is  above  suspicion  and 
beyond  dispute. 

3.  Deliverance  from  medicinal  diseases,  and  other  destructive 
consequences  of  former  methods  of  treatment. 

The  pernicious  effects  of  poisonous  drugs,  as  administered 
in  the  usual  manner,  are  of  two  kinds ;  some  are  immediate, 
others  are  more  remote.  The  immediate  mischief  produced 
by  some  medicines  is  so  visible  that  it  must  strike  the  eye  of 
both  physician  and  patient ;  indeed  there  are  few  persons  who 
are  not  aware,  from  their  own  observation,  that  injurious  conse- 
quences not  unfrequently  follow  the  taking  of  ordinary  physic. 
This  circumstance  is  so  notorious  that  Moliere  asserts  that 
"  Presque  tous  les  hommes  meurent  de  leurs  remedes,  et  non 
pas  de  leurs  maladies."  Most  people  die  of  their  remedies,  and 
not  of  their  diseases. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  mischievous  effects  of  the  ordinary 
practice,  I  will  take  the  medicine  which  at  present  is  most  pop- 
ular both  in  the  profession  and  out  of  it,  namely,  Mercury. 
This  poison,  in  the  form  of  gray  powder,  Hue  pill,  calomel,  or 
some  other  preparation,  is  given  and  taken  every  day  by  a 
multitude  of  people.  The  accumulated  ill-consequences  of  this 
formidable  medication,  whether  supplied  by  a  professional  or 
a  domestic  hand,  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to  detail ;  a  few 
testimonies  mast  suffice. 

Samuel  Cooper  in  his  admirable  Surgical  Dictionary,  while 
describing  the  best  modes  of  giving  Mercury  observes  that  when 
thus  given  it  "occasionally  attacks  the  bowels,  and  causes 
violent  purging  even  of  blood.  Afother  times  it  is  suddenly 
determined  to  the  mouth,  and  produces  inflammation,  ulceration, 
and  an  excessive  flow  of  saliva."  "  Mercmy,  when  it  falls  on  the 
mouth,  produces,  in  many  constitutions  violent  inflammation 
which  sometimes  terminates  in  mortification."*     I  have  seen  it 

*  Cooper's  Surgical  Dictionary,  Art.  Mereury. 


OF  HOMCEOPATHY.  17 

cause,  in  a  young  lady  who  had  taken  blue  pill  for  an  attack 
of  fever,  the  mortification  and  separation  of  the  greater  part  of 
the  lower  jaw. 

Mercury  sometimes  produces  an  eruption,  called  Eczema 
Mercuriale,  for  the  treatment  of  which  Dr.  A.  T.  Thompson 
prescribes,  and  then  adds,  "Under  this  treatment  the  disease 
(produced  by  the  Mercury)  generally  disappears,  but  some- 
times the  morbid  symptoms  increase  under  every  mode  of 
treatment,  and  a  fatal  termination  of  the  disease  ensues."* 

Death  sometimes  follows  from  what  are  considered  very 
small  doses. 

"  Dr.  Christison  mentions  a  case  in  which  two  grains  of 
calomel  destroyed  life  by  the  severe  salivation  induced,  as  well 
as  by  ulceration  of  the  throat.  Another  case  was  mentioned 
to  me  by  a  pupil  in  1839,  in  which  five  grains  of  calomel  killed 
an  adult  by  producing  fatal  salivation.  In  another  instance  a 
little  girl  aged  five,  took  daily  for  three  days  three  grains  of 
mercury  and  chalk  powder,  (gray  powder,)  her  mouth  was 
severely  affected,  mortification  ensued,  and  she  died  in  eight 
days.  In  another  case  three  grains  of  blue  pill  given  twice  a 
day  for  three  days,  making  eighteen  grains,  were  ordered  for 
a  girl  aged  nineteen,  who  complained  of  a  slight  pain  in  her  ab- 
domen.    Severe  salivation  supervened,  and  she  died  in  twelve 

days."t 

These  extracts  show  that  the  ill-effects  which  sometimes  fol- 
low immediately  from  an  ordinary  dose  of  mercurial  medicine 
are  extreme — even  to  the  taking  away  of  life.  It  will  be 
readily  understood  that  every  less  degree  of  mischief  must 
happen  much  more  frequently. 

The  more  remote  consequences  arising  from  the  presence  of 
a  deleterious  drug  depend  upon  the  absorption  of  the  poison, 
and  its  retention  in  the  body. 

This  fact  of  the  absorption  and  retention  of  medicines  in  the 
body,  and  that  for  years,  is  not  so  well  known  as  the  evils  last 
described,  but  it  has  been  often  proved.  The  following  case 
proves  it  with  respect  to  the  drug  I  have  taken  for  an  example : 

"  A  gentleman  rubbed  five  grains  of  corrosive  sublimate,  (by 
mistake  for  white  precipitate,)  made  into  an  ointment,  over  the 
abdomen  for  a  slight  ailment.  From  this  application  he  suf- 
fered very  severely ;  cold  water  and  flour  were  applied  to  as- 
suage his  torment.  Next  morning  the  pain  was  lessened,  and 
shortly  after,  a  tingling  sensation  only  remained.     No  further 

*  Thompson's  Dispensatory,  Art.  Mercury. 

f  Taylor's  Medical  Jurisprudence,  Art.  Mercury. 

2 


18  THE  ADVANTAGES 

symptom  followed.  Seven  days  after,  when  trying  to  polish 
the  ring  on  his  hand  with  one  of  his  ringers,  he  was  astonished 
at  discovering  the  appearance  of  mercury  on  the  gold,  and 
proceeding  to  burnish  the  metal  all  over,  he  readily  covered 
the  entire  surface  with  a  plating  of  quicksilver.  The  circum- 
stance was  made  known  to  a  medical  gentleman,  and  the 
discs  of  three  sovereigns  were  also  mercurialized.  The  follow- 
ing morning  the  relator  of  the  case  saw  the  party,  and  by 
rubbing  the  handle  of  a  gold  eye-glass  upon  the  inner  surface 
of  the  arm  a  similar  result  was  obtained.  A  portion  of  the  milled 
edge  of  a  sovereign  was  also  thus  so  completely  coated  with 
mercury,  that  no  glimpse  of  the  gold  could  be  seen  through  it. 
The  mouth  was  strictly  examined,  but  not  the  slightest  saliva- 
tion, enlargement,  unusual  redness,  or  looseness  of  the  teeth, 
was  discernible,  or  had  for  a  moment  been  experienced ;  the 
health  was  as  usual,  personal  appearance  unaltered."* 

It  is  thus  proved  that  the  compound  preparation  of  mercury 
which  had  been  applied  to  the  skin,  had  been  absorbed ;  had 
subsequently  been  reduced  to  the  metallic  state  ;  and  had  per- 
vaded all  parts  of  the  body.  This  gentleman  had  not,  as  yet, 
suffered  permanently  from  the  presence  of  the  metal  in  his 
system;  but  in  other  cases  there  has  been  much  suffering  for 
many  years,  and  even  for  the  remainder  of  life,  from  the  pre- 
sence of  mercury. 

Similar  evidence  might  be  adduced  respecting  other  medi- 
cines in  daily  use,  such  as  lead,  arsenic,  iodine,  etc.  That  the 
ill-effects  which  have  followed  the  taking  of  them  are  really  to 
be  attributed  to  the  remedies,  and  not  to  the  progress  of  the 
disease  for  which  they  were  given,  admits  of  the  most  positive 
proof.  Thus  that  medicinal  diseases  and  destructive  conse- 
quences follow  the  use  of  the  ordinary  doses  can  not  be 
doubted.f 

Now  let  us  inquire  what  are  the  effects  of  homoeopathic 
doses.  The  objection  ever  on  the  lips  of  our  opponents  is 
this  :  There  is  nothing  in  the  dose,  there  are  no  effects  :  then 
if  no  effects  follow,  it  is  plain  no  evil  effects  follow :  ex  nihilo 
nihil  fit. 

But  that  effects  of  a  beneficial  kind  follow  the  administration 
of  the  homoeopathic  doses  is  proved  by  the  successful  results 
which  have  been  detailed  in  former  Tracts ;  and  also  by  the  testi- 
mony of  every  medical  man  who  has  honestly  and  fairly  tried 
them.     The  facts  relative  to  the  various  effects  of  these  doses 

*  London  Medical  and  Physical  Journal.     Vol.  65,  p.  4G3. 
f  The  records  of  Hydropathic   establishments  afford  curious  confirmation  of 
these  facts. 


OF  HOMCEOPATHY.  19 

are  so  numerous  and  interesting  that  I  have  not  space  to  give 
them  now ;  they  will  furnish  materials  for  a  future  number.  I 
must  be  content  at  present  with  the  remark,  that  did  injurious 
effects  follow  the  use  of  the  small  doses,  either  immediately 
or  remotely,  as  they  follow  the  use  of  the  large  ones,  our  oppo- 
nents would  not  omit  to  make  the  most  of  such  a  fact  against 
Homoeopathy. 

That  patients  are  often  immediately  greatly  injured  by  the  large 
doses  of  medicines  ordinarily  given,  and  also  often  suffer  long 
from  the  contamination  of  their  constitutions  with  such  poi- 
sonous drugs,  is  known  and  acknowledged ;  that  they  do 
not  thus  suffer  from  infinitesimal  doses,  from  the  objection 
just  quoted  from  our  opponents,  is  obvious;  that  this  is  a 
great  advantage  must  be  above  suspicion  and  beyond  dispute. 

Such  I  believe  to  be  a  faithful  and  unexaggerated  picture  of 
the  advantages  of  Homoeopathy  over  every  other  form  of  me- 
dical treatment ;  and  I  lay  it  upon  the  conscience *of  every  in- 
dividual among  my  readers  who  believes  this  with  me,  to  ex- 
tend the  knowledge  of  it  according  to  his  ability,  until  these 
benefits  are  shared  in  by  the  whole  world. 


frarts  on  Somiwjiatjij.-Sto.  7. 


THE    PRINCIPLE 


OF 


HOMOEOPATHY 


BY    WILLIAM    SHARP,    M.D.,    F.R.S. 


$i*ijj   (fcbiiion. 


BOERICKE   &  TAFEL: 

NEW  YORK,  PII I  LA  DELPHIA. 

No.  145  GRAND  STREET.  No.  1011  ARCH  STREET. 


"I  am  so  far  from  claming  a  rational  theory  in  Physic,  thet  I  think  it  the  basis 

of  all  just  and  regular  practice  ;  but  then  it  should  be  as  Hippocrates  adviseth, 

Kara  (puaiv  deupla,  (a  theory  according  to  nature.)     If  ever  Physic  is  to  be 

improved,  it  must  be  in  such  a  manner,  and  not  by  chimerical  hypotheses,  nor 

rash  unwarrantable  quackery." 

IOIIN   HUXIIAM. 


THE   PRINCIPLE   OF   HOMEOPATHY. 


"  The  invention  of  the  mariner's  needle  which  gireth  the  direction,  is  of  no  less 
benefit  for  navigation  than  the  invention  of  the  sails  which  give  the  motion." 

Lord  Bacon. 


It  has  been  well  said  "  there  are  truths  which  some  men  de- 
spise, because  they  will  not  examine  them,  and  which  they 
will  not  examine  because  they  despise  them."  Homoeopathy 
is  one  of  these.  Men  of  large  scientific  attainments,  and  inde- 
fatigable in  adding  to  their  store  of  knowledge,  think  it  foolish 
because  they  are  ignorant  of  its  truth,  and  this  notion  of  its 
folly  hinders  them  from  becoming  acquainted  with  the  evidences 
in  its  favor. 

Nevertheless,  Homoeopathy  embraces  scientific  and  practical 
truth  of  so  much  value,  that,  were  it  known,  it  would  interest 
alike  the  man  of  science  and  the  man  of  practical  utility.  This 
truth,  known  only  as  men  know  other  truths,  imperfectly, 
may  be  mixed  up  with  numerous  errors,  but  it  is  wiser  to  en- 
deavor to  separate  what  is  true  from  what  is  false  than  to  re- 
ject both. 

The  jealousy  of  power  may  indeed  attempt  to  crush  the  ris- 
ing influence  of  new  truth.  A  Galileo  may  by  force  be  con- 
strained to  read  a  reluctant  recantation,  bat  "the  earth  moves 
notwithstanding.1'  Such  is  the  vitality  of  truth,  that  when 
once  discovered,  it  seems  never  afterwards  to  die.  If,  there- 
fore, Homoeopathy  be  true,  we  may  confidently  expect  that  it 
will  survive  the  opposition  to  which  it  is  exposed.  If  it  be 
false,  let  us  have  the  proof.  It  is  not  to  be  condemned  as  some 
people  would  condemn  a  suspected  felon,  without  judge,  jury, 
or  witness. 

But,  whatever  course  the  opponents  of  Homoeopathy  ma) 
pursue,  it  is  plainly  the  duty  and  the  wisdom  of  those  who 
have  risked  their  credit  and  success  by  embracing  it,  to  give 
it  a  most  searching  inquiry ;  that  what  there  is  of  truth  in  it 
may  be  preserved  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  and  that  what 
there  may  be  of  error  intermingled  with  that  truth  may  be  eli- 


4  THE   PRINCIPLE 

minated  from  it.     Truth,  beautiful  truth,  must  be  to  us  what 
power  was  to  the  Romans.     In  the  words  of  Livy, 

,  "Apud  Romanos  vis  imperii  valet  inania  transmiltuntur." 

Among  the  Romans,  he  says,  the  power,  the  energy  of  empire 
was  valued ;  the  pompous  trappings  and  parade  were  handed 
over  to  others — to  the  monarchs  of  the  east. 

Let  us  then  once  more  examine  the  foundation  of  our  science, 
and  in  doing  so  we  will  consider : 

I.  Whether  there  be  any  probability  that  a  law,  rule,  or 
principle  exists  in  nature  for  our  guidance  in  the  treatment  of 
disease. 

II.  The  laiv  of  Homoeopathy. 

III.  The  limits  of  this  law. 

IV.  What  those  cases  are  which  are  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
law,  and  how  they  are  to  be  treated. 

I.  Whether  there  be  any  probability  that  a  law,  rule,  or  prin- 
ciple exists  in. nature  for  our  guidance  in  the  treatment  of  dis- 
ease. 

It  is  held  by  some  that  such  a  law  is  impossible.  Among 
those  who  think  thus,  is  the  present  official  head  of  our  profes- 
sion— Dr.  Paris,  the  President  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physi- 
cians in  London. 

"In  tracing  the  history  of  the  Materia  Medica  to  its  earliest 
periods,"  says  Dr.  Paris,  "We  shall  find  that  its  progress  has 
been  very  slow  and  unequal,  very  unlike  the  steady  and  suc- 
cessive improvement  which  has  attended  other  branches  of 
natural  knowledge;"  we  shall  perceive  even  that  its  advance- 
ment has  been  continually  arrested,  and  often  entirely  subvert- 
ed, by  the  caprices,  prejudices,  superstition  and  knavery  of 
mankind ;  unlike,  too,  the  other  branches  of  science,  it  is  incapa- 
ble of  successful  generalization."  *  This  extract  from  Dr.  Paris 
proves,  first,  that,  up  to  the  present  moment,  no  law,  principle, 
or  generalization  has  been  acknowledged  by  the  profession  as 
a  body.  It  proves,  secondly,  the  wretched  condition  of  the 
Materia  Medica,  or  art  of  healing,  as  exercised  by  legally  quali- 
lied  practitioners.  It  further  admits  that  this  art  has  not  been 
improved  and  advanced  as  other  branches  of  natural  knowledge 
are  confessed  to  have  been  advanced ;  leaving  the  inference  to 
be  drawn,  that  such  wretched  condition  and  such  want  of 
improvement  have  arisen  from  the  absence  of  a  principle  or 
rule  to  improve  by.     Lastly,  it  asserts,  but  it  does  not  prove,  that 

*Paris's  "  Pharmacalogria."     Introduction. 


OF   HOMCEOPATHY.  5 

medicine  must  for  ever  remain  in  this  hopelessly  unimprov- 
able condition,  for  that  it  is  incapable  of  such  a  principle !  Sad 
indeed — if  it  be  true. 

These  are  the  sentiments  of  the  leading  living  physician  in 
London;  let  us  now  turn  to  the  most  distinguished  living 
physician  in  the  capital  of  Scotland. 

Dr.  Simpson  says :  "  In  medicine  and  surgery  we  have  many 
general  facts  or  l<iws,  more  or  less  correctly  ascertained  and  es- 
tablished, and  the  art  of  medicine  consists  in  the  practical  ap- 
plication of  these  laws  to  the  relief  and  cure  of  the  diseases  of 
our  patients.  These  laws  are  some  of  a  higher,  some  of  a 
lower  type  of  generality.  As  examples  of  them  we  have,  for 
instance,  the  law  that  various  contagious  diseases,  more  particu- 
larly eruptive  fevers,  seldom  attack  the  same  individual  twice 
during  life,  and  the  practical  application  of  this  law  in  artificial 
inoculation  with  small -pox  and  cow-pox  has  already  saved 
millions  of  human  lives.  As  a  general  law,  cinchona  has  the 
power  of  arresting  and  curing  diseases  of  an  intermittent  or 
periodic  type,  as  intermittent  fever  or  ague,  intermittent  neural- 
gia, etc.  As  a  general  law,  the  employment  of  opium  arrests 
and  cures  irritative  diarrhoea,  iron  cures  chlorosis,  etc.  etc."  * 

In  the  name  of  natural  science  I  protest  against  such  an 
abuse  of  its  expressions  as  is  here  made.  If  its  most  valuable 
terms  are  to  be  applied  in  so  vague  a  manner  there  is  an  end 
to  all  precision  of  ^either  thought  or  language.  If  the  term 
"general  law"  is  to  be  understood  as  meaning  nothing  more 
than  that  things  generally  happen  so  and  so,  the  further  discus- 
sion of  the  subject  will  be  vain  and  unprofitable. 

Dr.  Simpson,  endeavoring  to  extricate  himself  from  this  con- 
fusion of  ideas,  and  misapplication  of  words,  goes  on  to  say : 
"  But  the  law  laid  down  by  Hahnemann,  and  which  forms 
the  groundwork  of  Homoeopathy,  namely,  similia  simiUb  us  cu- 
rantur,  is  regarded  by  him  and  his  disciples,  not  in  the  light 
of  a  general  law,  but  as  a  universal  and  infallible  law  in  thera- 
peutics." Here  it  is  evident  that  the  word  general  is  made  to 
mean  the  same  as  generally,  as  if  they  were  connected  as  the 
words  frequent  and  frequently  may  be ;  but  a  "  general  law  "  in 
this  sense  is  a  contradiction  in  terms ;  a  "  law  generally  but 
not  always  "  is  no  law  at  all  in  nature.  The  word  "  general  " 
when  applied  to  a  law  of  nature  means  the  same  as  "  universal." 
A  natural  law  must  be  universally  applicable  within  its  sphere  of 
action — a  real  though  not  an  apparent  exception  would  destroy 
its  claim  to  be  received  as  a  law.  Homceopathists  speak  of 
their  law  as  thus  general  or  universal. 

*  Simpson's  "Homoeopathy,  its  Tenets  and  Tendencies,"  pp.  2,  37. 


6  THE   PRINCIPLE 

But  the  confusion  in  Dr.  Simpson's  mind  continues  as  he 
proceeds.  "For  one,"  he  says,  "I  am  most  willing  to  admit, 
that  if  Hahnemann,  or  any  man,  could  discover  a  single  uni- 
versal, infallible  law  in  therapeutics,  applicable  to  all  diseases 
and  all  cases  of  disease,  it  would  constitute  the  greatest  imagin- 
able discovery  in  medicine.  Many  men  have  in  the  same  way 
fancied  that  they  have  discovered  a  single  infallible  universal 
remedy  for  all  diseases.  Priesnitz  thought  his  cold  water 
was  such.  Morison  averred  that  his  pills  were  such,  and  so 
on." 

How  strange  the  confusion  of  thought  in  this  sentence ! 
What  relation  does  the  attempt  to  cure  all  diseases  by  a  single 
remedy,  as  in  the  instance  of  Hydropathy,  bear  to  the  attempt 
to  discover,  by  philosophical  inquiry  and  fair  induction,  a  gen- 
eral fact  or  law  of  nature  calculated  to  guide  us  in  the  applica- 
tion of  all  remedies?  An  uneducated  but  vigorous  peasant 
might  undertake  the  one,  but  only  an  accomplished  physician 
could  hope  to  effect  the  other.  And  how  can  Dr.  Simpson 
place  a  laborious  scientific  inquiry,  carried  on  openly  in  the 
face  of  Europe  by  Hahnemann,  side  by  side  with  the  adver- 
tisements about  his  secret  pills  and  their  infallible  virtues  by 
Morison  ?  This  evidences  a  lack  either  of  discernment  or  of 
candor ;  if  the  former,  it  displays  such  a  want  of  discrimination 
as  entirely  unfits  him  for  the  task  he  has  undertaken ;  if  the 
latter,  it  betrays  him  into  such  a  misrepresentation  of  things  as 
equally  disqualifies  him  on  another  ground. 

Dr.  Simpson  admits  that  the  discovery  of  a  general  pr'nciple 
to  guide  us  in  the  application  of  remedies  in  disease  would  be 
a  great  discovery ;  but  he  has  no  sympathy  with  those  who 
are  laboring  to  find  out  such  an  invaluable  guide.  He  does 
not,  indeed,  say  with  Dr.  Paris  that  the  discovery  is  impossible, 
but  he  breathes  no  fervent  aspiration  that  suffering  hum  n  t-jr 
may  receive  such  a  boon.  He  does  not  engage  in  the  search 
himself,  any  more  than  Dr.  Paris,  nor  has  he  a  word  of  en- 
couragement to  induce  others  to  engage  in  it.  He  expresses 
no  gratitude  to  Hahnemann  for  his  indefatigable  exertions, 
nor  regret  that  they  should  have  been  persevered  in  for  so  many 
years,  as  he  thinks,  in  vain. 

There  is  nothing  enviable  in  a  frame  of  mind  like  this — so 
destitute  of  generous  admiration  of  the  struggles  of  an  ardent 
spirit  to  obtain  some  light  to  illuminate  his  path  in  the  con- 
scientious discharge  of  his  professional  duties —  so  devoid  of 
ingenuous  pity  and  brotherly  regret  while  he  thinks  that  thoso 
aspirations  and  exertions  have  ended  in  a  failure ! 

But  other  men  have  had  other  views  and  feelings,  and  have 


OF   HOMCEOPATHY.  7 

come  to  a  different  conclusion.  Sydenham,  the  father  of  British 
physicians,  writes  thus : 

"I  conceive  that  the  advancement  of  medicine  lies  in  the  fol- 
lowing conditions : 

"  There  must  be,  in  the  first  place,  a  history  of  the  disease, 
in  other  words,  a  description  that  shall  be  at  once  graphic  and 
natural 

"  To  draw  a  disease  in  gross  is  an  easy  matter.  To  describe 
it  in  its  history,  so  as  to  escape  the  censure  of  the  great  Bacon, 
is  far  more  difficult 

"It  is  necessary,  in  describing  any  disease,  to  enumerate  the 
peculiar  and  constant  phenomena,  apart  from  the  accidental 
and  adventitious  ones  ;  these  last  named  being  those  that  arise 
from  the  age  or  temperament  of  the  patient,  and  from  the  dif- 
ferent forms  of  medical  treatment.  It  often  happens  that  the 
character  of  the  complaint  varies  with  the  nature  of  the  reme- 
dies, and  that  symptoms  may  be  referred  less  to  the  disease  than 

to  the  doctor No  botanist  takes  the  bites  of  a 

caterpillar  as  characteristic  of  a  leaf  of  sage 

"  The  other  method  whereby,  in  my  opinion,  the  art  of  me- 
dicine may  be  advanced,  turns  chiefly  upon  what  follows, 
namely,  that  there  must  be  some  fixed,  definite,  and  consum- 
mate methodus  medendi,  (law  or  method  of  cure,)  of  which  the 
commonweal  may  have  the  advantage.  By  fixed,  definite,  and 
consummate,  I  mean  a  line  of  practice  which  has  been  based 
and  built  upon  a  sufficient  number  of  experiments,  and  has  in 
that  manner  been  proved  competent  to  the  cure  of  diseases.  I 
by  no  means  am  satisfied  with  the  record  of  a  few  successful 
operations  either  of  the  doctor  or  the  drug.  I  require  that 
they  be  shown  to  succeed  universally  under  such  and  such  cir- 
cumstances,,"* 

Such  are  the  earnest  thoughts  of  Sydenham.  It  is  true 
he  looked  for  this  "  method  of  healing"  in  a  direction  in  which 
success  has  not  yet  been  attained.  He  hoped  to  find  it  in  a 
theory  of  disease.  "It  is  known,"  he  says,  "that  the  founda- 
tion and  erection  of  a  perfect  and  definite  methodus  medendi  is 
a  work  of  exceeding  difficulty.  In  this  direction  two  thousand 
years  have  been  spent  in  unsuccessful  efforts.  HAHNEMANN 
turned  to  another  quarter,  and,  as  Dr.  Scott  has  beautifully 
explained,  he  found  a  method  in  a  theory  of  cure. 

Thus  far  authorities  may  be  consulted  on  the  question,  whe- 
ther there  be  any  probability  that  a  law  of  healing  exists  in 
nature.     But  authorities  can  not  give  the  answer ;  it  is  a  ques- 

*  Works  of  Sydenham.     VoL  I.,  pp.  12-17. — Sydenham  Society's  Edition. 


8  THE   PEINCIPLE 

tion  of  analogy  ;  and  it  can  be  answered  only  by  a  reference  tc 
what  is  found  to  be  true  in  other  departments  of  nature. 

Now  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  natural 
and  experimental  philosophy  are  aware  that  all  progress  in 
natural  knowledge  is  dependent  upon  the  discovery  of  general 
facts  or  laws.  A  subject  appears  confused,  and  all  its  parts  in 
disorder,  until  such  a  discovery  with  reference  to  it  has  been 
made  ;  when  this  has  been  effected,  every  thing  falls  into  its 
place,  and  that  which  seemed  before  a  chaos  becomes  an  exhi- 
bition of  order  befitting  the  contrivance  of  an  infinite  intelli- 
gence. So  far  have  natural  philosophers  gone  in  this  direction, 
and  so  imbued  are  they  with  the  conviction  that  all  nature  is  a 
system  of  wisdom,  an  arrangement  of  perfect  order  and  beautiful 
symmetry,  that  their  energies  are  mainly  devoted  to  the  inves- 
tigation of  these  laws.  If  we  examine  the  labors  of  the  me- 
chanician, the  chemist,  the  electrician,  the  geologist,  the  bo- 
tanist, the  physiologist,  we  find  that  all  are  working  in  the 
same  spirit,  all  are  in  search  of  the  same  objects,  general  laws 
■ — the  guiding  principles  of  nature. 

"All  things  that  are,"  observes  that  excellent  man  who  has 
earned  for  himself  the  epithet,  judicious,  "  have  some  opera- 
tion not  violent  nor  casual All  things, 

therefore,  do  work  according  to  law,  whereof  some  Superior, 

unto  whom  they  are  subject,  is  author 

Those  things  are  termed  most  properly  natural  agents  which 
keep   the  law  of  their  kind  unwittingly,  which  can  do  no 

otherwise  than  they  do ; their  strict  keeping 

of  one  tenure,  statute,  and  law,  is  spoken  of  by  all,  but  it  hath 
in  it  more  than  men  have 'yet  attained  to  know."* 

If  then, 

"  Order  be  Heaven's  first  law," 

if  there  be  laws  regulating  every  department  even  of  inanimate 
nature,  shall  there  not  be  laws  of  life  and  of  health  ?  If  there 
be  laws  of  storms  and  tempests  in  the  air  and  the  ocean,  shall 
there  not  be  laws  of  disease — those  tempestuous  motions  in  the 
living  body?  Shall  there  be  a  magnetic  bar  to  guide  the 
affrighted  mariner  out  of  the  intricacies  and  dangers  of  a  storm 
at  sea,  and  shall  there  be  no  compass  to  guide  the  physician  in 
his  efforts  to  extricate  the  sick  man  from  the  living  tempest 
within  him  ?     It  can  not  be  ;  all  analogy  is  against  it. 

If  it  be  said,  the  original  constitution  of  nature  was  indeed 
perfect,  and  arranged  under  perfect  laws,  but  disease  has  been 
since  introduced  in  the  train  of  sin,  and  is  therefore  necessarily 

*  Hooker. 


OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  9 

irregular  and  lawless,  it  may  be  answered,  the  all-wise  Creatoi 
was  not  taken  by  surprise  when  our  first  parents  sinned ;  he 
had  made  infinite  provision  for  the  sad  catastrophe ;  and 
while  he  righteously  appointed  disease  to  be  the  regulated 
avenue  to  death,  the  wages  of  sin,  he  mercifully  provided  me- 
dicines, and  regulated  their  use  for  the  mitigation  of  this  por- 
tion of  our  woe. 

Analogy,  then,  leads  us  to  conclude  that  it  is  probable  that  a 
law,  ride,  or  principle,  exists  in  nature  for  our  guidance  in  the 
treatment  of  disease. 

II,  The  Law  of  Homoeopathy. — It  is  obvious  that  though  from 
analogy  it  is  highly  probable,  nay  almost  certain,  that  a,  law 
of  healing  exists  in  nature,  it  does  not,  therefore,  follow  that 
Homoeopathy  is  that  law.  The  next  step  required  is  that 
its  own  truth  be  demonstrated  as  clearly  as  the  nature  of  the 
case  admits. 

What  is  a  law  of  nature  ?  By  "  law  of  nature"  is  to  be  un- 
derstood the  will  of  the  great  Creator  in  the  (physical,  not  moral) 
government  of  his  own  works  ;  by  "  general  fact"  is  meant  the 
actual  exhibition  of  that  will  in  the  obedience  of  the  creature ; 
by  "principle"  we  express  our  confidence  in  the  unalterable 
character  of  the  law,  as  seen  in  the  continual  recurrence  of  the 
fact;  and  we  therefore  make  it  a  "rule  of  art"  to  guide  us  in 
our  own  conduct  and  proceedings.  These  terms  are  often 
used  synonymously,  and  when  so  used  all  these  ideas  are  im- 
plied in  them.  They  express  a  natural  fact,  which,  not  in  a 
single  instance,  nor  occasionally,  nor  generally,  but  always, 
under  given  circumstances,  happens ;  that  is,  so  far  as  our  pre- 
sent limited  knowledge  of  natural  events  teaches  us.  They 
express  a  general  fact  ascertained  by  repeated  observations,  as 
a  particular  fact  is  ascertained  by  a  single  observation,  which  is 
found  to  be  always  true  under  certain  conditions. 

Let  us  take  an  example.  One  of  Kepler's  laws  is  this :  "  The 
planets  describe  equal  areas  in  equal  times."*  When  the 
planets  are  in  that  part  of  their  orbit  near  the  sun  their  motion 
is  accelerated  ;  when  at  a  greater  distance  from  4;he  sun  their 
motion  is  retarded  ;  but  at  every  part  of  their  course,  the  area 
described  in  a  given  time  is  always  the  same.  Now  if  the 
planets  coidd  be  detected  occasionally  moving  after  a  different 
manner  the  law  would  not  exist;  it  could  not  be  said  that  the 
planets  describe  equal  areas  in  equal  times ;  the  statement 
would  be  false  and  not  true.  A  law  of  nature  can  not  be  a 
general  law  without  being  a  universal  one. 

*  Demonstrated  in  the  first  proposition  of  Newton's  Principia. 


10  THE   PRINCIPLE 

These  considerations  are  applicable  to  all  the  known  laws 
of  nature  ;  right  reason  therefore  dictates  their  application  to 
the  law  of  Homoeopathy.  It  is  proved  to  be  a  law  if  it  pos- 
sess a  constant  action  within  a  limited  sphere ;  it  will  not  ope- 
rate, and  ought  not  to  be  expected  to  operate,  beyond  that 
sphere. 

What,  then,  is  the  law  of  Homoeopathy,  and  what  are  the 
proofs  of  its  truths  ?  To  avoid  repetition,  I  must  here  refer 
my  readers  to  Tract  No.  3,  for  an  answer  to  these  questions. 

That  there  is  a  natural  relation  between  the  disease-produc- 
ing and  the  disease-healing  powers  of  drugs  is,  I  think,  clearly 
made  out.  That  a  poison  which  produces,  for  instance,  inflam- 
mation of  any  organ  when  given  in  health  in  a  large  dose,  will 
be  a  good  remedy  for  a  similar  inflammation  of  that  organ  aris- 
ing from  another  cause,  if  given  in  a  small  dose,  is,  I  think, 
fully  proved ;  hence  the  rule  quaintly,  but  for  brevity's  sake, 
expressed  in  the  words,  "  similia  similibus  curantur" — likes  are 
to  be  treated  with  likes. 

That  it  is  a  stronger  artificial  inflammation  which  "perma- 
nently extinguishes"  the  weaker  natural  inflammation,  as  as- 
serted by  Hahnemann,*  has  not  been  proved,  and  is  appa- 
rently beyond  our  power  to  ascertain.  Why  should  a  simple 
fact  be  obscured,  and  its  reception  retarded,  by  hypothetical 
explanations?  Speculation  and  hypothesis  have  been  the 
bane  of  medical  science  in  all  ages :  when  will  they  be  dis- 
carded ?  Not  till  then  will  unanimity  of  sentiment  prevail  in 
the  profession,  and  the  greatest  success  attainable  crown  its 
labors. 

On  another  ground  also  it  is  essential  that  we  should  restrict 
ourselves  to  the  expression  of  facts  in  the  simplest  language 
and  in  terms  devoid  of  hypothesis.  We  are  assailed  by  able, 
intelligent,  and  learned  adversaries ;  if  we  undertake  to  defend 
what  is  indefensible,  we  give  our  opponents  a  great  advantage, 
and  may  expect  defeat ;  if  we  rest  upon  a  natural  fact,  free 
from  human  speculation,  however  brilliant,  we  shall  be  able  to 
stand. 

All  who  are  conversant  with  researches  into  the  constitu- 
tion of  nature  confine  themselves,  when  giving  expression  to 
the  laws  which  govern  its  operations,  to  a  simple  statement  of 
facts.  We  know  too  little  yet  of  what  Sydenham  beautifully 
calls  "  the  innermost  penetralia  of  nature,"  to  venture  be- 
yond the  surface.  We  may  know  that  under  certain  circum- 
stances nature  will  act  in  a  certain  manner,  but  if  we  are  wisely 

*  "  Organon,"  §  xxvl 


OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  II 

modest  we  shall  abstain  from  asserting  how  the  act  is  per- 
formed. With  all  due  respect,  therefore,  for  the  memory  of 
Hahnemann,  and  with  very  grateful  acknowledgments  of 
the  benefits  which,  by  his  industry  and  perseverance,  he  has 
conferred  upon  mankind,  I  decline  to  adopt  the  hypothetical 
language  in  which  he  has  clothed  the  principle  "  similia  simi- 
lib  us  curantur  J1 

The  fact  is  sufficient  for  all  practical  purposes.  An  imagin- 
ative explanation  adds  nothing  to  its  value,  while  it  perplexes 
the  student,  and  affords  materials  which  the  opponent  can  rea- 
dily assail.  There  are  those  who  would  rather  give  an  erro- 
neous explanation  than  own  their  ignorance  by  giving  none  at 
all.  I  can  not  admire  their  wisdom.  There  are  others  who 
insist  on  following  the  "master ;"  but,  as  Locke  has  observed, 
"  'Tis  not  worth  while  to  be  concerned  what  he  says  or  thinks 
who  says  or  thinks  only  as  he  is  directed  by  another." 

The  hypotheses  of  Hahnemann  constitute  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty in  the  theory  of  Homoeopathy  ;  if  we  agree  to  reject  them, 
that  difficulty  is  removed.  "The  taking  away  false  foundations 
is  not  to  the  prejudice  but  advantage  of  truth,  which  is  never 
injured  or  endangered  so  much  as  when  mixed  with  or  built 
on  falsehood."* 

The  law  of  Homoeopathy,  as  expressed  in  the  words  "  similia 
similibus  curantur" — likes  are  to  be  treated  with  likes — should 
be  understood  as  a  simple  statement  of  a  natural  fact,  of  uni- 
versal occurrence  under  certain  conditions  which  are  essential, 
and  in  the  absence  of  which  it  does  not  occur.  This  brings  us 
to  the  third  division  of  our  subject. 

III.  What  are  the  limits  to  this  law  of  Homoeopathy  ?  To 
what  extent  is  it  practically  applicable  ?  This  is  an  important 
inquiry,  and  I  shall  do  good  service  if  I  succeed  in  defining 
the  boundary  line  within  which  the  rule  of  "similia  similibus 
curantur"  applies — within  which  it  is  a  general  law,  a  universal 
principle. 

Great  indistinctness  of  perception  prevails  upon  this  point, 
which  is  much  to  be  regretted.  It  has  caused  a  useless  discus- 
sion on  a  theoretical  question,  whether  the  law  is  a  universal 
or  only  a  general  law;  it  has  also  given  rise  to  a  widely- 
extended  controversy  on  an  important  practical  question,  the 
use  of  so-called  auxiliaries ;  and  it  has  often  placed  medical 
men  in  difficulties  out  of  which  they  have  not  known  how  to 
escape. 

*  Locke's  Essay.     Epistle  to  the  Reader. 


12  THE   PRINCIPLE 

To  make  this  subject  plain,  we  will  first  inquire  wliat  is 
meant  by  the  limits  of  a  law  of  nature  ?  and,  for  an  example 
in  illustration,  we  will  once  more  refer  to  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion. All  bodies  attract  each  other  with  a  force  directly  pro- 
portioned to  their  mass,  and  inversely  to  the  squares  of  their 
distances  from  each  other.  Under  certain  conditions  this  force 
causes  bodies  to  approach  each  other.  But  they  often  do  not 
approach  each  other ;  on  the  contrary,  we  often  see  bodies 
recede  from  each  other ;  is  therefore  the  law  broken  and  abol- 
ished ?  By  no  means.  The  planets  gravitate  towards  the  sun, 
but  in  one  part  of  their  orbits  they  rapidly  recede  from  that 
luminary  ;  why  ?  not  because  they  have  ceased  to  gravitate 
towards  that  attracting  centre,  but  because  the  force  of  gravity 
is,  for  a  time,  overpowered  by  another  force,  and  thus  ren- 
dered apparently  inoperative.  In  the  same  manner  bodies 
often  fall  to  the  earth  under  the  influence  of  gravity,  but  they 
often  do  not  fall ;  why  ?  because  the  attractive  force  is  inter- 
fered with  by  some  counteracting  circumstance — the  table  or 
the  hand  supports  the  book — the  conditions  are  not  satisfied  ; 
let  these  conditions  be  restored,  let  the  support  be  removed, 
and  the  universality  of  the  law  will  be  vindicated — the  book 
will  fall. 

Acids  and  alkalies  have  a  strong  tendency  to  combine  with 
each  other  in  definite  proportions  under  the  influence  of  chem- 
ical affinity ;  but  if  a  stream  of  galvanic  electricity  be  passed 
through  the  liquid  in  which  they  are  dissolved  and  united, 
they  are  separated — the  force  of  affinity  ceases  to  operate. 

This  law  in  chemistry  of  the  union  of  bodies  in  definite  pro- 
portions, seems  not  to  hold  in  the  manufacture  of  glass ;  at 
least  hitherto  it  has  not  been  shown  to  do  so.  I  have  repeat- 
edly tried  the  experiment  myself.  I  have  mixed  the  ingre- 
dients in  the  proportions  of  their  chemical  equivalents,  and 
have  obtained  glass ;  having  had  for  these  experiments  the 
use  of  a  large  glass  manufactory ;  but  my  glass  was  not  finer 
nor  better  than  that  produced  by  the  empirical  mixture  made 
by  the  men.  Does  this  invalidate  D  Alton's  beautiful  and 
invaluable  discovery  ?  By  no  means  ;  his  experiments  were 
made  at  ordinary  temperatures,  and  chemical  combinations  pro- 
duced under  similar  circumstances  are  obedient  to  this  law. 
The  condition  of  so  high  a  temperature  as  that  required  for  the 
manufacture  of  glass  does  not  appear,  at  present,  to  be  within 
the  limits  of  the  law  ;  nevertheless,  the  law  is  perfect ;  it  bears 
universal  rule  within  its  jurisdiction — within  the  conditions 
which  limit  it. 


OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  13 

In  an  electrical  or  magnetic  experiment  the  disturbing  influ- 
ences, preventing  or  interrupting  the  phenomena,  are  more 
numerous  and  complicated.  The  laws  of  electricity  and  of 
magnetism  are  not,  however,  thereby  considered  doubtful  or 
untrustworthy ;  they  are  depended  upon  as  absolutely  certain 
to  produce  their  respective  events  within  the  limits  of  their 
sphere  of  influence. 

Such  is  the  meaning  of  the  limits  of  a  natural  law.  Let  us  ' 
apply  these  ideas  to  the  law  of  "similia  similibus  curantur." 
A  poison  taken  in  health  produces  a  certain  series  of  derange- 
ments ;  by  this  experiment  the  poison  is  indicated,  according 
to  the  law  of  Homoeopathy,  as  a  specific  remedy — the  best 
that  can  be  obtained — the  choice  one  in  all  nature — for  a  simi- 
lar series  of  derangements  occurring  in  natural  disease.  If 
this  axiom  be  true  at  all,  it  will  be  not  only  generally  but  uni- 
versally true  within  the  limits  of  its  conditions — within  the 
limits  of  its  power  of  action. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  understand  the  question,  What  are 
the  limits  of  Homoeopathy  ?  The  answer  must  consist  in  an 
enumeration  of  those  diseases  which  come  within  the  limits ; 
and  this  answer  will  be  made  more  plain  and  definite  when  we 
come  afterwards  to  consider  those  cases,  or  parts  of  cases,  which 
lie  beyond  its  limits. 

That  the  boundary  is  a  vast  one,  and  includes  an  innumer- 
able multitude  of  the  "ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to,"  will  be  mani- 
fest on  due  consideration.  I  can  only  refer  to  them  very 
briefly.  The  endless  variety  of  affections  of  the  brain  and 
nerves  ;  the  disorders  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  of  respi- 
ration, of  digestion,  of  absorption,  of  secretion ;  many  ail- 
ments of  the  bones,  ligaments,  joints,  muscles,  glands,  and 
integuments,  are  included  within  the  circle  of  this  comprehen- 
sive rule. 

The  practitioner  who  professes  to  take  this  law  for  his  guide 
in  the  treatment  of  disease,  must  obey  it  with  loyalty,  and  trust 
it  with  confidence  within  this  extensive  territory.  If  he  bleed 
and  blister  in  simple  inflammation,  if  he  give  purgatives  in 
simple  chronic  constipation,  lie  is  without  apology.  The  law 
will  guide  him  effectually  and  securely,  if  it  be  obeyed,  through 
all  such  troubles  as  these.  Such  additions  do  more  than,  in 
the  language  of  Johnson,  "  encumber  us  with  help ;"  they 
are  unnecessary  and  injurious. 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  so-called  auxiliaries. 
The  term  is  improper,  and  ought  never  to  be  applied. 

Here  is  a  magnet  and  a  piece  of  iron ;  when  the  magnet  is 
brought  sufficiently  near  the  iron,  and  the  iron  is  free  to  move, 


14  THE   PRINCIPLE 

it  is  drawn  up  against  gravity  and  adheres  to  the  magnet.  This 
is  a  fact  illustrating  the  action  of  the  magnetic  force.  Suppose 
a  weight  is  put  upon  the  piece  of  iron,  and  the  magnet  made  to 
approach  it  as  before ;  now  there  is  no  apparent  action ;  the 
magnetism  of  the  bar  has  not  departed,  but  the  conditions  re- 
quisite for  its  visible  manifestation  are  not  granted ;  there  is  a 
mechanical  impediment.  Now  suppose  the  impediment  is 
removed  with  the  hand,  and  the  conditions  thus  restored,  the 
action  again  takes  place.  Can  the  hand  in  that  case  be  called 
an  auxiliary  to  the  magnetic  force  ?  It  is  obviously  an  impro- 
per term  ;  we  can  not  help  or  assist  a  natural  force,  though  we 
may  often  remove  impediments,  or  assist  in  producing  the 
circumstances  or  conditions  under  which  the  force  naturally 
acts. 

We  must  reject  the  term  auxiliary  altogether.  If  applied 
to  bleeding  and  purging  in  inflammation,  both  the  act  and  the 
term  are  wrong ;  such  additions  to  true  Homoeopathic  treat- 
ment are  not  needed ;  they  are  not  auxiliaries  but  hindrances. 
If  applied  to  what  is  required  to  be  done  for  those  parts  of 
cases  which  are  beyond  the  limits  of  the  law  of  Homoeopathy, 
it  is  wrongly  applied ;  where  the  law  does  not  reach,  it  can 
not  act  at  all,  and  therefore  can  not  be  assisted. 

Within  the  limits  of  the  law  of  Homoeopathy  nothing  should 
be  added  to  the  remedy  indicated,  except  what  is  manifestly 
calculated  to  promote  the  comfort  of  the  patient ;  appropriate 
food,  clothing,  temperature,  air,  water  cold  or  warm,  and 
cheerful  and  kind  attendants.  What  is  required  where  these 
limits  are  exceeded  we  will  now  proceed  to  consider. 

IY.  What  those  cases  are  which  are  beyond  the  limits  of  this 
law,  and  how  they  are  to  be  treated. 

These  out-lying  cases,  or  parts  of  cases,  like  stragglers  beyond 
the  camp,  are  a  disorderly  group,  which  have  given  a  great 
deal  of  trouble  to  the  Homoeopathic  practitioner,  because  he 
has  not  seen  clearly  how  to  deal  with  them.  They  have  con- 
stituted a  great  practical  difficulty.  Let  us  try  to  subdue  them 
to  order  and  submission.  We  will  take  them  seriatim,  follow- 
ing the  maxim  of  Rochefoucauld,  "  Pour  bien  sa^oir  les 
choses,  il  en  fiiut  savoir  de  detail."  To  understand  a  subject, 
We  must  go  into  particulars. 

There  is  a  class  of  cases  of  which  the  following  is  an  instance. 
A  man  is  heartily  and  hastily  enjoying  his  dinner ;  he  swallows 
the  bone  of  a  fish,  and  it  lodges  in  his  throat ;  the  practitioner 
is  sent  for  in  great  haste — the  man  is  choking.  What  dose  of 
a  "  like"  remedy  can  help  in  such  a  case  ?    It  is  true  there  are 


OF   HOMCEOrATHY.  15 

medicines  homoeopathic  to  the  pain  and  incipient  inflammation, 
but  their  action  would  be  kept  in  abeyance,  just  as  the  force 
of  gravity  can  not  bring  the  apple  to  the  ground  while  it  is 
supported  by  the  twig.  No ;  the  mechanical  impediment  in  both 
instances  must  first  be  removed — the  twig  must  be  broken,  the 
bone  must  be  extracted,  and  then,  the  required  conditions 
being  granted,  the  respective  laws  will  operate. 

Another  class  is  represented  by  the  following  cases.  A  rail- 
way accident,  unhappily  by  no  means  unfrequent,  has  scattered 
abroad  a  number  of  poor  creatures  with  broken  arms  and  legs, 
dislocated  shoulders  and  ankles,  and  wounds  of  all  kinds.  It 
is  true  the  Homoeopathic  medicines  will  be  of  great  service,  but 
there  are  other  requirements :  fractured  bones  must  be  replaced 
in  their  natural  positions,  and  be  retained  there ;  dislocated 
joints  must  be  reduced  ;  wounds  must  be  closed  with  sutures 
and  plasters,  perhaps  bleeding  vessels  tied ;  and  bandages  must 
be  skillfully  applied.  All  the  presence  of  mind  and  practical 
tact  of  the  medical  attendant  will  be  put  in  requisition.  His 
applications  will  be  much  fewer  in  number,  his  apparatus  much 
less  complicated  than  were  those  of  his  forefathers,  so  graphic- 
ally depicted  in  the  glorious  folio  of  Ambrose  Pare,  but  some- 
thing of  this  kind  must  always  be  required ;  to  treat  such 
cases  single-handed  is  plainly  beyond  the  power  of  Homoeo- 
pathy ;  but  Homoeopathy  will  do  its  own  part,  and  do  it  well ; 
within  its  own  province  it  will  need  no  help. 

We  proceed  to  another  class  of  cases.  A  patient  is  suffering 
from  inflammation  of  the  bladder ;  the  physician  prescribes 
Cantharides ;  the  remedy  is  perfectly  homoeopathic  to  the 
inflammation,  but  it  fails  to  afford  relief.  On  more  careful 
examination  a  stone  is  found  in  the  bladder ;  its  presence  is 
the  cause  of  the  inflammation  ;  it  is  a  mechanical  impediment 
to  the  action  of  the  remedy.  The  forceps  is  again  required, 
the  stone  is  removed,  and  the  patient  recovers.  The  failure  of 
Cantharides  in  this  case  is  no  reproach  to  Homoeopathy ;  it 
would  have  cured  had  there  been  no  such  impediment. 

It  will  be  said  that  all  these  are  surgical  cases,  and  that  the 
Homoeopathic  physician  is  not  concerned  with  them.  I  grant 
that  they  are  called  surgical  cases,  and  that  Hahnemann  him- 
self excepts  them  as  such;  but  the  distinction  between  the 
surgeon  and  the  physician  is  an  artificial  division  of  the  medical 
staff,  which  ought  never  to  have  arisen.  It  did  not  exist  among 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  but  originated  in  the  dark  ages,  and 
I  hope  it  will  cease  to  exist  in  the  future;  that  practitioners 
will  study  the  whole  of  their  profession,  and  seek  only  the  dis- 
tinction of  superior  skill   and  experience.     At   any   rate   all 


16  THE   PRINCIPLE 

should  first  be  physicians,  and  surgery  should  be  the  super* 
added  part. 

In  another  class  of  cases  we  meet  with  strictures  of  the  natu- 
ral passages.  In  these  cases  'there  is  the  diseased  condition  of 
the  part,  which  can  be  prescribed  for  Homceopathically,  but 
there  is  something  more ;  there  is  a  mechanical  impediment  to 
the  free  passage  of  what  ought  naturally  to  be  allowed  entrance 
or  exit.  In  the  case  of  the  aesophagus  it  is  clear  that  solid 
food  must  be  abandoned,  and  only  liquids  swallowed ;  in  the 
case  of  the  rectum  something  must  be  done  to  produce  liquid 
evacuation.  Now,  Homoeopathic  medicines  restore  health; 
their  tendency  is  to  bring  a  disordered  action  into  a  natural 
state ;  but  a  natural  state,  a  healthy  action  is  in  admissible  in 
these  deplorable  cases,  and  consequently  something  must  be 
given  to  produce  an  unnatural  state,  as  the  only  condition  on 
which  life  can  be  for  a  short  time  prolonged.  This  case,  theu, 
requires  an  aperient,  but  it  is  evident  that  the  aperient  is  not 
given  with  any  view  of  curing  the  patient ;  it  has  no  pretension 
of  that  kind ;  its  object  is  simply  to  accommodate  nature  to  a 
mechanical  difficulty.  Should  Homoeopathic  remedies  dimin- 
ish the  disease,  and  the  stricture  disappear,  the  necessity  for  a 
liquid  diet  in  the  one  case,  and  for  aperients  in  the  other,  would 
cease.  These  cases  are  happily  very  rare,  but  when  they  do 
occur,  the  medical  adviser  should  explain  their  nature  clearly, 
and  especially  his  .motive  for  having  recourse  to  aperients. 

Other  cases  the  opposite  of  those  last  noticed  will  be  met 
with.  I  lately  saw  an  elderly  lady  who  was  in  the  act  of  los- 
ing an  enormous  quantity  of  dark  blood  from  the  bowel ;  her 
life  was  in  great  jeopardy.  The  rectum  was  distended  with 
hard  matter.  Two  things  were  immediately  done  ;  the  medi- 
cine which  I  conceived  was  most  homoeopathic  to  my  patient's 
condition  was  given,  and  by  an  enema  of  water,  the  mechanical 
impediment  to  the  contraction  of  the  bowel  was  removed.  The 
haemorrhage  ceased  instantly,  and  never  returned.  Now  I  a'. ted 
here  strictly  as  a  Homceopathist  should  act.  I  gave  nothing 
but  the  Homoeopathic  remedy ;  but  had  I  contented  myself  with 
this,  my  patient  must  have  died.  On  the  other  hand,  remov- 
ing the  mechanical  difficulty  was  not  having  recourse  to  Allo- 
pathy ;  it  was  in  the  strictest  keeping  with  the  purest  Homoeo- 
pathy, and  I  took  care  that  the  friends  of  my  patient  should 
understand  the  nature  of  the  case. 

Again,  a  child  fills  its  stomach  with  poison-berries,  or  with 
pastry ;  or  a  man  swallows  accidentally  or  intentionally  a 
quantity  of  poison  in  a  solid  state.  Shall  not  warm  water,  or 
aii  emetic,  or  the  stomach-pump,  as  may  seem  to  be  most  called 


OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  17 

for,  be  immediately  made  available  to  remove  the  offending 
matter  ?  In  some  of  these  cases  magnesia,  or  white  of  egg,  or 
camphor,  or  some  other  antidote  may  be  required  to  neutralize 
chemically  or  vitally  the  poisonous  substance.  The  remainder 
of  the  case  will  fall  within  the  limits  of  the  law,  and  the  proper 
Homoeopathic  remedies  can  be  given. 

Again,  cases  of  fracture  of  the  spine,  where  there  is,  of 
course,  total  paralysis  of  all  the  parts  below  the  fracture,  re- 
quire a  mechanical  mode  of  relieving  the  bladder,  during  the 
brief  remainder  of  life. 

Again,  cases  of  dropsical  effusion  may  demand  the  removal 
of  the  accumulated  water,  not  as  a  remedy  for  the  dropsy,  but 
that  the  distress  caused  by  its  bulk  and  mechanical  pressure 
may,  for  a  time  at  least,  be  relieved.  For  a  similar  reason  it 
will  sometimes  be  desirable  to  remove  simple  tumors  by  an 
operation.  Malignant  tumors,  having  an  origin  in  constitu- 
tional disease,  should  not,  I  think,  be  operated  upon.  They 
may  be  benefited  by  Homoeopathic  treatment ;  the  forcible 
removal  of  them  subjects  the  sufferer  to  a  painful  operation, 
and  tends  to  shorten  rather  than  to  prolong  life.  We  have  the 
testimony  of  experienced  Allopathic  surgeons  to  this  fact. 

It  will  be  evident,  on  a  careful  study  of  all  these  cases,  that 
none  of  them  are  cases  for  which  Homoeopathy  is  not  adapted. 
We  hear  it  said  from  time  to  time  :  Such  a  case  is  not  suited 
to  Homoeopathy.  There  are  no  such  cases.  Every  case  of 
disease  is  suited  to  Homoeopathy,  and  Homoeopathy  is  adapted 
to  every  case.  It  will  be  observed  that  it  is  for  a  part  only  of 
these  cases  that  Homoeopathy  is  not  suited.  It  is  perfectly  com- 
petent to  act  within  its  own  sphere  in  every  case  of  disease  ; 
that  which,  in  any  case,  lies  beyond  this  sphere,  if  we  follow 
the  dictates  of  right  reason,  must  be  treated  by  other  means. 
They  are  chiefly  mechanical  difficulties,  which  require  to  be 
mechanically  removed.     A  few  are  chemical. 

The  Homoeopathist  need  not  be  ashamed  of  these  things ;  he 
must  avow  them;  he  must  explain  them  ;  he  must,  of  all  men, 
be  open  and  straightforward,  and  do  every  thing  in  public. 
Nothing  can  damage  Homoeopathy,  or  the  character  of  Homce- 
opathists,  so  much  as  clandestine  proceedings. 

But  what  shall  be  done  with  those  "  bites  of  the  caterpillar," 
to  which  we  have  seen  that  Sydenham,  nearly  two  centuries 
ago,  compared  the  mischief  produced  by  the  deleterious  doses 
of  Allopathic  drugs — the  bites  of  the  caterpillar  f  What  must 
be  done  with  them  ?  They  are  very  difficult  to  deal  with.  I 
will  describe  what  I  did,  a  few  months  ago,  with  a  case  of  this 
kind. 

No.  vii. — 2 


18  THE   PRINCIPLE 

In  the  beginning  of  November  last,  Mr.  H.,  aged  about  38 
married,  of  a  nervous  temperament,  not  feeling  quite  well,  con- 
sulted his  physician,  complaining  chiefly  of  nervousness.  Mer- 
cury, Hyoscyamus,  and  Digitalis  in  large  doses,  along  with 
other  medicines,  were  prescribed  for  him.  The  next  day  he 
felt  worse;  the  medicines  were  repeated,  and  others  added. 
He  continued  to  get  worse ;  the  drugs  were  continued.  He 
took  to  his  bed  ;  another  physician  was  called  in  in  consulta- 
tion, and  the  drugs  repeated.  When  he  had  been  three  months 
in  bed,  was  emaciated  to  the  last  degree ;  was  suffering  from 
bilious  diarrhoea ;  his  heart  beating  as  if  it  would  break  his 
ribs,  140  times  in  a  minute  ;  his  head  confused  ;  the  Mercury 
and  Foxglove  being  still  continued,  and  Belladonna  added  in 
large  and  frequently -repeated  doses  ;  his  wife  was  told  that  she 
must  expect  the  worst.  This  was  his  condition  in  April  last, 
when  I  first  saw  him.  He  had  taken  Mercury  and  Foxglove 
for  five  months,  together  with  Henbane,  Capsicum,  Columba, 
Ammonia,  Opium,  Valerian,  Camphor,  Sulphuric  Acid,  Qui- 
nine, Ether,  Assafetida,  Colocynth,  Nitric  Acid,  Dandelion, 
Prussic  Acid,  Hop,  Poppy,  Cod-liver  Oil,  Ehubarb,  Deadly 
Nightshade,  Epsom  Salts,  Senna,  etc.  etc.  These  medicines 
had  been  prescribed,  in  the  order  here  given,  with  various 
salines  and  infusions,  by  these  two  highly  respectable  phy- 
sicians, between  the  13th  of  November  and  the  26th  of  March, 
in  as  many  separate  prescriptions,  now  in  my  possession.  What 
could  I  do  ?  I  advised  him  to  try  to  take  some  food,  and  to 
abstain  from  all  medicine  for  a  week.  .  At  the  end  of  the  week 
he  was  a  little  better,  but  had  been  greatly  agitated  the  day 
before  by  the  stormy  visit  of  one  of  his  former  physicians.  I 
prescribed  sulphur  for  him,  and  in  about  two  months,  by  atten- 
tion to  diet,  and  by  taking  a  few  doses  of  Nux  Vomica,  Sul- 
phur, Nitric  Acid,  and  Cinchona,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  leaving 
my  patient  quite  well,  and  he  soon  afterwards  resumed  his 
occupation,  upon  which  a  family  was  dependent. 

Before  I  conclude,  I  must  not  omit  to  notice  one  class  of 
cases  which  remains,  and  which  Hahnemann  reminds  us  com- 
mon sense  excludes,  in  the  first  stage  of  their  treatment,  from 
the  domains  of  Homoeopathy.  They  are,  in  fact,  not  cases  of 
disease,  but  of  privation  of  life ;  I  allude  to  suspended  anima- 
tion by  drowning,  or  any  other  kind  of  suffocation.  Persons 
in  this  condition  do  not  need  healing  of  disease,  but,  if  possi- 
ble, restoring  to  life.  Whatever  means  are  most  likely  to  be 
conducive  to  this  end  must  be  diligently  used  by  the  Homoeo- 
pathist.   If  he  should  happily  succeed  in  these  efforts,  and  any 


OF   HOMEOPATHY.  19 

ailment  then  exist  in  his  patient,  his  rule  comes  into  action, 
and  he  treats  his  case  accordingly. 


It  will  be  perceived  that  on  the  use  of  auxiliaries,  which  at 
present  somewhat  divides  the  Homoeopathic  body,  I  do  not  join 
either  party ;  but  I  have  endeavored  to  place  the  subject  in 
such  a  point  of  view,  that  both  parties  may  agree  with  me.  It 
may  have  been  presumptuous  in  me  to  attempt  this,  but  I  shall 
be  thankful  and  not  proud  if  I  should  succeed.  If  both  parties 
should  agree  with  me,  this  consequence  will  follow  :  that  they 
will  agree  with  one  another ;  for  it  is  a  general  law  of  nature 
that  "things  which  are  equal  to  the  same  thing,  are  equal  to 
one  another." 


Such,  when  "  cleared  of  doubt,"  is  the  principle  of  Homoeo- 
pathy. When  it  is  remembered  how  many  centuries  medical 
men  have  been  groping  in  the  dark  without  any  principle  to 
guide  them,  it  seems  scarcely  possible  to  over-estimate  the 
value,  or  to  exaggerate  the  importance,  of  such  a  discovery. 
It  might  have  been  expected  that  it  would  be  hailed  with 
delight  by  the  professional  body,  or  that  at  least  it  would  be 
used  thankfully  till  a  better  could  be  found  ;  but  it  has  met 
with  the  more  common  treatment  of  new  truth — rejection  with- 
out inquiry.  "Damnant  quod  non  intelligunt,"  says  Cicero, 
they  condemn  what  they  do  not  understand ;  the  majority 
being  "  those  who  prefer  custom  and  habit  before  all  excel 
lency,"*  who 

"  bring 
A  mind  not  to  be  changed  I "  f 

Rugly,  February  2\st,  1854.- 


*  Bacon — Advancement  of  Learning.  f  Milton — raradise  Lost. 


1  THii  mind  which  is  searching  for  truth  ought  to  remain  in  a  state  ot  sns- 
?ense,  until  superior  evidence  on  one  side  or  the  other  incline  the  balance  of  the 
judgment,  and  determine  the  probability  or  certainty  to  the  one  side." 

"Watts. 


THE  CONTROVERSY  ON  HOSKEOPATHY. 


41  Read  not  to  contradict  and  confute,  nor  to  believe  and  take  for  granted,  noi 
to  find  talk  and  discourse,  but  to  weigh  and  consider." — Lord  Bacon. 


We  are  censured  by  our  medical  brethren  of  the  old  school 
■  for  bringing  professional  discussions  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
public,  because,  it  is  said,  the  public  are  incompetent  judges  of 
such  matters.  Some  of  our  own  party  are  disposed  to  join  in 
this  censure,  and  we  are  all  ready  to  admit  that,  in  the  pre- 
sent condition  of  medicine,  an  appeal  to  the  public  is  in  itself 
an  evil. 

But  it  must  be  observed  that  this  evil  did  not  originate  with 
the  Homceopathists.  Hahnemann  did  not  take  this  step  ;  he 
published  his  first  essay  in  Hufeland's  Journal,  a  periodical 
strictly  professional,  and  of  the  highest  caaracter  and  standing 
in  the  profession.  The  step  was  taken  by  the  physicians  of  the 
old  school,  and  at  the  very  commencement  of  the  discussion  ; 
for  instead  of  meeting  Hahnemann  on  their  common  ground, 
with  arguments  and  facts  wherewith  to  refute  his  opinions,  they 
appealed  to  the  public  authorities,  and  by  the  aid  of  this  un- 
professional force  drove  him  from  city  to  city,  and  from  vil- 
lage to  village.  And,  moreover,  this  appeal  to  the  public  by 
the  Allopathic  portion  of  the  profession  has  been  continued  to 
the  present  hour,  and  is  still  continued.  Occasions  are  eagerly 
sought  on  which  to  call  for  the  inquest  of  the  Coroner,  in  the 
hope  of  committing  the  Homceopathist  to  prison,  a  hope  whi  h 
has  once  been  realized;  and  what  are  the  resolutions  so  fre- 
quently passed  at  public  meetings  of  medical  men,  and  publish- 
ed in  the  newspapers,  declaring  that  they  will  not  recognize  and 
can  not  hold  communion  with  Homoeopathic  practitioners, 
whom  they  stigmatize  as  quacks,  knaves,  and  fools,  but  an  ap- 
peal to  the  public  to  aid  them  in  their  endeavors  to  suppress 
the  unwelcome  novelty  ? 

If  then  there  be  folly  in  bringing  this  matt  t before  the  pub- 
lic, the  folly  rests  with  the  old  Bchool,  not  with  the  new;  it  is 


4  THE   CONTROVERSY 

plain  that  Homoeopathists  have  no  alternative ;  the  affair  i& 
already  before  the  public ;  it  has  been  carried  there  by  their 
opponents ;  they  are  compelled,  however  reluctantly,  to  plead 
the  cause  of  Homceopathy  before  this  tribunal.  It  is  true,  in- 
deed, that  they  do  this  without  fear,  though  reluctantly,  not 
doubting  that  when  magistrates  are  better  acquainted  with  its 
truth  and  value  they  will  no  longer  expel  it  from  their  borders 
or  imprison  it  in  their  jails ;  nor  that  the  public,  when  well 
informed  upon  the  question,  will  fail  to  come  to  a  satisfactory 
and  wise  conclusion. 

Another  justification  of  the  course  pursued  by  Homoeopa- 
thists arises  out  of  the  fact  that  every  Allopathic  medical  jour- 
nal is  closed  to  any  paper  containing  an  argument  or  a  fact  in 
favor  of  Homoeopathy.  Many  medical  men  are  not  only  deaf 
to-  their  entreaties  to  investigate  the  new  science,  but,  as  is 
most  evident,  resolved  if  possible  to  crush  it.  They  have  im- 
bibed a  settled  hatred  of  the  whole  subject,  and  will  never 
study  it  unless  compelled  by  their  patients  to  do  so. 

It  may  be  observed  further  that  though  this  public  discus- 
sion of  medical  matters  be  an  evil,  good  will  Come  out  of  it. 
The  veil  of  mystery  which  has  hitherto  shrouded  medicine  will 
be  removed  ;  the  elements  of  the  science  will  be  expressed  in 
plain  and  intelligible  terms ;  unprofessional  men  will  inform 
themselves  more  fully  on  these  subjects  than  they  have  been 
wont  to  do,  and  the  result  will  be,  not  that  every  man  will  be 
his  own  physician,  for  that  is  neither  desirable  nor  possible, 
but  that  it  will  be  in  the  power  of  every  one  to  possess  such 
knowledge,  and  to  have  such  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  the 
subject,  as  will  enable  him  to  choose  his  medical  advisers  for 
better  reasons  than  those  by  which  he  has  heretofore  been 
guided. 

And  again  it  may  be  remarked  that  if  medicine  be  really  a 
science,  there  is  no  reason  why  every  educated  person  may 
not  understand  its  principles  as  he  ought  to  know  the  princi- 
ples of  Chemistry,  of  Astronomy,  of  Agriculture,  of  Mechanics, 
or  of  any  other  branch  of  natural  knowledge. 

Entertaining  these  views,  I  conceive  myself  justified  in  lay- 
ing the  whole  case  of  Homoeopathy,  without  reserve,  before  the 
profession,  if  they  will  look  at  it,  and  if  they  will  not,  before 
the  public ;  the  interests  of  the  latter  being  even  more  con- 
cerned in  it  than  those  of  the  former.  It  seems  to  me  desira- 
ble that  the  matter  should  be  clearly  explained  in  the  simplest 
manner  possible.  Such  is  the  object  of  these  Tracts.  In  this 
number  I  purpose  to  point  out  the  present  aspect  of  what  may 


* 


ON   HOMCEOPATHY.  I 

be  called  the  external  features  of  the  controversy.  This  wil 
be  accomplished  by  the  discussion  of  the  four  following  argu 
ments : 

I.  From  authority. 

II.  From  antiquity. 

III.  From  the  majority. 

IV.  From  improbability. 


I.  THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  AUTHORITY. 

This  argument  on  the  side  of  Allopathy  may  be  thus  stated 
various  Universities,  as  the  four  in  Scotland ;  several  Royal  Col 
leges,  as  those  of  the  Physicians  of  London  and  of  Edinburgh 
and  many  other  public  bodies,  have  pronounced  their  condemna 
tion  of  Homoeopathy  in  the  strongest  manner.  They  have 
rejected  students  and  applicants  for  their  degrees  and  diplomas, 
and  have  passed  resolutions  forbidding  their  members  to  hole 
any  professional  intercourse  with  those  who  adopt  the  ne^v 
system  of  medicine. 

As  illustrations  of  these  proceedings,  I  give  the  following: 
first,  the  letter  written  by  the  president  of  the  Royal  College  oJ 
Physicians  of  London,  in  reply  to  an  application  for  its  license, 
made  by  a  Homoeopathic  practitioner. 

"  Sir  :  The  foundation  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  was  for  the 
purpose  of  jruaranteeing  to  the  publicskillful  and  safe  practitioners. 

"  The  College  of  Physicians  regards  the  so-called  Homoeopathists  as  neithei 
skillful  nor  safe. 

"  Therefore  the  College  can  not,  without  betraying  a  sacred  trust,  give  its 
license  to  persons  whom  they  regard  as  wholly  unworthy  their  confidence,  and 
with  whom  it  is  not  possible  they  can  hold  any  communion. 

"  I  remain,  etc.,  John  Ayrton  Paris." 

And,  secondly,  the  declaration  of  the  Court  of  Examiners  of 
the  Society  of  Apothecaries  in  London,  the  only  public  body 
authorized  by  act  of  Parliament,  to  give  a  legal  qualification  to 
practice  medicine  in  England,  namely,  that 

"  Tn  their  capacity  of  Examiners  they  will  refine  their  certificate  to  any  can- 
didate who  professes,  during  his  examination,  to  found  his  practice  on  what 
are  called  Homoeopathic  principles." 

As  this  declaration  was  made  about  two  years  ago,  I  thought 
it  well  to  learn  whether  the  Society  of  Apothecaries,  which, 
perhaps  it  should  be  observed,  is  a  mercantile  company  Belling 
drugs,  still  adheres  to  its  resolution.  This  1  have  ascertained 
by  the  following  reply  to  a  letter  of  inquiry  addressed  to  their 
secretary,  which  I  received  on  the  28th  of  October,  1853. 


6  THE  CONTKOVERSY 

u  Sir  :  The  Court  of  Examiners  still  refuses  to  admit  any  person  who  calls 
himself  a  HomcEopathist.  I  am,  Sir,  yours,  etc., 

H.  Blatch,  Secretary." 

Thus  Homoeopathy  is  put  down  with  a  high  hand  by  the 
medical  authorities  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  in  this  they  are  only 
following  the  course  pursued  from  the  beginning  by  the  simi- 
lar authorities  of  Germany.  It  is  well  known  that  Hahne- 
mann himself  was  expelled  from  Leipsic,  and  from  several 
other  places,  on  attempting  to  practice  after  his  newly-discov- 
ered method.  This  opposition  still  survives,  for,  only  a  few 
months  ago,  an  able  practitioner,  Dr.  Kallenbach,  who  had 
been  invited  to  Frankfort-on-the-Maine  by  a  number  of  distin- 
guished citizens,  was  summarily  expelled  by  the  authorities 
from  that  free  town. 

Such  is  the  view  of  the  argument  on  the  side  adverse  to  the 
new  method — Homoeopathy  is  denounced  by  authority. 

The  reply  on  this  argument  is  as  follows :  It  is  right  both 
to  feel  and  to  express  respect  for  authority,  and  it  is  a  duty  to 
render  it  obedience  when  put  in  exercise  within  its  lawful 
limits ;  but  it  is  equally  a  duty  to  resist  it,  in  a  lawful  manner, 
when  it  is  stretched  beyond  those  limits.  The  question  there- 
fore arises,  is  it  within  the  lawful  power  of  Colleges,  by  a  mere 
act  of  authority,  without  investigation,  to  denounce  Homoeopathy, 
which  professes  to  be  a  branch  of  natural  knowledge  founded 
upon  observed  facts  ? 

It  is  easy  to  show  that  the  case  before  us  is  one  which 
authority  can  not  deal  with  in  this  manner,  and  consequently 
that,  in  this  summary  condemnation  without  inquiry,  the 
influence  of  power  is  misplaced,  and  its  exercise  an  act  of 
tyranny. 

For  the  matters  are  questions  of  science,  not  of  authority ; 
they  are  to  be  answered  by  observation,  not  by  command.  A 
little  consideration  will  make  this  very  plain.  What  are  the 
questions?  Such  as  these:  Which  is  the  best  method  of 
learning  the  properties  of  medicinal  substances  ?  Which  is  the 
best  mode  of  preparing  the  medicines,  and  the  best  quantity 
to  give  for  a  dose  ?  Is  it  best ,  in  treating  disease,  to  combine 
several  remedies  together  in  one  prescription,  or  to  give  a  sin- 
gle remedy  at  a  time  ?  Is  there  any  general  principle  in  na- 
ture by  which  we  can  be  guided  in  the  choice  of  our  remedies? 
Does  the  expression  "similia  similibus  curantur" — likes  are  to 
be  treated  with  likes — declare  a  natural  fact,  or  is  it  merely  a 
fancy  of  Hahnemann's  ?  Is  the  new  treatment,  when  fairly 
and  honestly  carried  out,  more  successful  than  the  old  ? 

It  is  most  obvious  that  these  are  not  questions  which  it  is 


ON  HOMOEOPATHY.  7 

ntting  for  authorities  to  decide  by  a  mere  act  of  power.  No 
man  is  born  with  such  intuitive  wisdom  and  knowledge  as 
shall  render  him  competent  to  answer  them  ex  cathedra. 
They  can  be  answered  only  by  interrogating  nature  herself, 
and  the  only  possible  way  to  obtain  answers  from  nature  is  the 
way  of  diligent  and  careful  observation  and  experiment.  It 
is  incumbent  upon  private  individuals  to  pursue  this  method  of 
research  before  they  assume  themselves  to  be  in  a  condition  to 
declare  an  opinion ;  how  much  more  then  is  it  the  bounderi 
duty  of  public  bodies,  intrusted  with  the  power  of  giving  01 
withholding  a  license  to  practice,  to  take  diligent  heed  to  ex- 
amine into  these  matters,  before  they  pronounce  a  judgmenl 
gravely  affecting  not  only  the  profession,  but  the  whole  com- 
munity. 

No  post  of  authority,  nor  even  any  amount  of  knowledge 
upon  other  subjects,  can  qualify  men  to  answer  and  decide 
upon  such  questions  as  these,  without  previous  investigation, 
The  universities  and  colleges  have  not  investigated  experiment- 
ally these  matters;  they  are  in  great  ignorance  respecting 
them  :  in  this  ignorance  they  have  pronounced  a  condemnation : 
this  condemnation,  therefore,  while  it  is  an  act  of  injustice 
towards  men,  is  a  harmless  and  insignificant  proceeding  towards 
Homoeopathy. 

Be  it  observed  that  the  objection  does  not  lie  against  au- 
thorities for  coming  to  a  decision  upon  these  matters,  but  for 
deciding  in  ignorance;  for  pronouncing  judgment  without  inquiry 
Such  conduct  can  not  but  be  unwise  and  damaging  to  the 
legitimate  influence  of  properly-constituted  public  bodies, 
Suppose,  for  the  sake  of  illustration,  that  the  Eoyal  Society 
were  to  reply  to  an  application  to  be  admitted  a  Fellow  by  the 
following  letter  from  the  noble  President : 

"  Sir  :  The  foundation  of  the  Royal  Society  was  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
moting natural  knowledge. 

"  The  Royal  Society  regard  the  pretended  operations  of  the  Electric  Tele- 
graph as  opposed  to  the  established  principles  of  natural  knowledge. 

"  Therefore  the  Royal  Society  can  not,  without  betraying  a  sacred  trust, 
confer  its  Fellowship  upon  persons  believing  in  or  practicing  those  pre- 
tended operations,  since  they  regard  such  persons  as  wholly  unworthy  their 
confidence,  and  with  whom  it  is  not  possible  they  can  hold  any  communion. 
"I  remain,  etc.,  Rossk." 

Such  is  the  position  in  which  the  Royal  College  of  Physi- 
cians has  been  placed  by  the  letter  of  its  President,  Dr. 
Paris. 

The  University  of  Edinburgh  has  still  further  overstretched 
its  lawful  authority.     It  is  well  known  that  the  examining 


8  THE  CONTEOVEESY 

bodies  of  our  public  institutions  are  appointed  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  that  applicants  for  certificates  and  degrees  have 
passed  through  an  appointed  course  of  study,  and  have  acquir 
ed  a  certain  amount  of  knowledge,  and  the  certificate  or  degree, 
when  granted,  testifies  to  this  fact  and  nothing  more.  But  the 
Examiners  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh  refused  to  grant 
this  testimonial  to  Mr.  Alfred  Pope,  unless  he  would  pledge 
himself  never  to  practice  Homoeopathy,  but  only  "that  system 
of  medicine"  which  he  had  been  taught  by  the  then  Professors 
in  that  University.  Now,  even  had  the  subject  of  Homoeo- 
pathy been  investigated  by  the  Examiners,  and  they  had  come 
to  the  conclusion  that,  in  its  present  aspect,  it  was  not  a  desir- 
able mode  of  practice,  still  that  to  reject  a  student  for  refusing 
to  pledge  himself  for  the  future,  would  have  been  an  unjust 
and  tyrannical  act,  can  not  be  doubted  by  any  one ;  for  this 
reason,  that  they  could  not  know  what  additional  discoveries  and 
improvements  might  be  made,  or  what  might  become,  even  in 
their  own  judgments,  the  most  successful  method  of  relieving 
the  sufferings  of  their  fellow  creatures.  How  great,  then,  the 
injustice,  both  towards  Homoeopathy  and  towards  the  student, 
to  require  such  a  pledge  without  knowledge  and  without 
inquiry ! 

There  is  another  light  in  which  this  question  must  be  viewed 
in  order  to  see  the  fallacy  of  the  comparison  which  Dr.  Simpson 
and  others  are  fond  of  drawing  between  medical  and  clerical 
students.  It  is  known  to  all,  that  before  admission  into  the 
ministry  of  the  Church,  a  young  man  is  expected  to  profess  his 
adoption  of  certain  articles  of  faith,  in  which  he  undertakes  to 
abide,  and  which  his  teachers  have  also  acknowledged  their 
assent  to,  and  undertaken  to  teach.  They  are  therefore  bound 
to  reject  any  student  who  refuses  to  express  his  belief  in  the 
articles  of  the  church  into  which  he  aspires  to  enter.  In  the 
schools  of  medicine  there  are  no  such  standards.  Every  teacher 
is  at  liberty  to  adopt  and  teach  whatever  medical  doctrine  and 
practice  he  thinks  best ;  and,  consequently,  every  student  has 
to  make  a  similar  choice  for  himself,  and,  provided  he  pursues 
the  prescribed  course  of  studies,  and  acquires  the  stipulated 
amount  of  information,  he  has  hitherto  obtained  his  degree, 
with  a  mind  unfettered  as  to  the  mode  of  practice  he  may  after- 
wards see  fit  to  adopt.  Viewing  the  matter  in  this  light  it  was 
an  unjustifiable  act  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  to  agree  to- 
gether to  condemn  a  particular  mode  of  practice,  while  they 
agree  in  nothing  else  except  in  their  ignorance  of  what  that 
mode  is,  and  of  what  it  can  accomplish. 

That  the  greatest  differences  of  opinion,  both  in  points  of 


ON  HOMCEOPATHY.  9 

theory  and  in  matters  of  practice,  prevail  even  among  the 
teachers  of  the  same  University,  is  admitted ;  but  Dr.  Simpson 
contends  that  they  are  all  governed  by  the  "standard  of  com- 
mon sense."  Does  he  mean  by  this  the  kind  of  sense  which 
decides  a  question  in  ignorance  of  it? — which  supposes  the 
course  of  nature  to  be  subject  to  human  authority  ? — which 
would  make  a  young  man  pledge  himself  never  to  look  at  a 
natural  fact  which  may  possibly  stare  him  in  the  face  all  the 
rest  of  his  life,  and  promise  never  to  adopt  a  mode  of  treat- 
ment upon  which  his  future  professional  success  may  possibly 
depend,  and  which  his  examiners  themselves  are  free  to  adopt  any 
day  they  please?  Surely  this  is  the  sense  shown  by  the  Inqui- 
sition, when  it  put  Galileo  into  prison  for  discovering  that 
the  earth  moves,  and  for  asserting  his  belief  in  it ;  and  is  this 
what  Dr.  Simpson  means  by  the  standard  of  common  sense  ? 
Paley  truly  observes  that  "one  of  the  ends  of  civil  govern- 
ment is  its  own  preservation  ;"  but  is  this  the  mode  by  which 
the  rulers  of  our  Universities  aad  Colleges  hope  to  preserve 
their  lawful  authority  over  the  next  generation  ?  Is  it  by 
excluding  from  their  body  the  most  inquiring  minds,  the  most 
ardent  spirits,  and  forcibly  ranging  them  in  opposing  ranks, 
that  they  expect  to  hand  down  unimpaired  to  their  successors 
the  venerable  institutions  of  our  country  ? 

Happily,  however,  for  the  credit  of  our  age,  the  course  thus 
pursued  by  many  of  our  public  bodies  has  not  been  pursued  by 
all.  The  Koyal  College  of  Surgeons  of  London  have  dealt  with 
this  matter  after  another  manner.  To  the  applications  which 
have  been  made  to  its  Council  to  join  in  putting  down  Homoe- 
opathy, the  following  decisive  answer  has  been,  on  each  occa- 
sion, returned : 

"The  Council  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  England  have  atten- 
tively and  repeatedly  considered  the  various  communications  which  they  have 
received  on  the  subject  of  Homoeopathy  ;  and  after  mature  deliberation  have 
resolved  that  it  is  not  expedient  for  t/te  College  to  interfere  in  the  matter." 

Having  had  the  pleasure  of  being  a  member  of  this  College 
for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  I  can  not  but  rejoice  in 
this  determination  of  the  Council.  I  believe  it  to  be  the  course 
of  justice  and  wisdom,  and  venture  to  entertain  a  confident 
expectation  that  it  will  not  be  long  ere  the  same  course  is 
adopted  by  the  other  Colleges  also,  which,  for  the  moment, 
have  been  led  into  error  by  their  present  rulers.  Indeed  the 
University  of  Edinburgh  seems  to  have  intimated  already, 
through  the  Lord  Provost,  that  in  future  Homoeopathy  will 
not  prove  an  impediment  to  any  student  in  taking  his  degree 


10  THE  CONTROVERSY 

With  a  little  time  and  patience  a  national  reformation  may  take 
place,  under  the  auspices  of  our  established  institutions ;  this 
will  be  far  better  than  any  sectarian  one  effected  by  a  new 
charter. 

Such  is  the  view  of  the  argument,  from  authority,  on  the 
side  favorable  to  the  new  method.  The  condemnation  of  Ho- 
moeopathy by  Magistrates,  Universities  and  Colleges  has  been 
done  inadvertently,  is  devoid  of  force,  and  not  likely  to  be 
long  continued;  it  is  a  condemnation  pronounced  without 
knowledge  and  without  reason,  and  by  an  exercise  of  power 
beyond  its  lawful  limits. 


II.    THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  ANTIQUITY. 

On  the  side  of  Allopathy:  The  present,  or,  as  it  is  often 
called,  the  established  and  legitimate  mode  of  treating  diseases, 
is  the  result  of  thousands  of  years  of  observation  and  experi- 
ence. A  succession  of  talented  men  have  been  engaged, 
through  many  ages,  in  the  cultivation  of  the  profession  of  physic. 
They  have  labored  diligently,  amidst  toils  and  dangers,  and 
discouragements  of  no  ordinary  kind.  There  has  been  put  in 
exercise  a  large  amount  of  philanthrophy,  of  devotedness,  of 
disinterested  self-denial.  And  this  labor  and  devotedness,  ex- 
tending through  successive  generations,  has  had  for  its  great 
object  the  discovery  of  the  most  successful  method  of  mitigating 
the  sufferings  of  mankind  from  disease  and  death.  And  have 
all  this  labor  and  exposure  to  danger,  this  philanthropy  and 
self-denial  been  in  vain  ?  It  is  incredible.  Surely,  the  .best 
results  have  already  been  arrived  at ;  every  mode  of  treatment 
must  have  been  tried,  the  faulty  rejected,  and  the  best  retain- 
ed in  the  hands  of  the  well  educated,  legally  qualified  physician. 
Any  upstart  method  of  the  present  day  must  unavoidably 
come  under  the  suspicion  that  it  is  one  of  mere  pretension  ; 
that  it  seeks  popular  favor  by  large  professions,  the  hollowness 
of  which  is  concealed  only  by  their  novelty,  and  by  the  auda- 
cious boldness  with  which  they  are  put  forth  ;  that  its  growth 
is  that  of  the  mushroom,  springing  up  and  perishing  with  equal 
rapidity — its  flash  of  light  that  of  the  meteor,  which  is  no  sooner 
seen  than  it  vanishes  into  black  darkness.  Homoeopathy  thus 
viewed  is  one  of  the  many  kindred  delusions  which  will  have 
its  brief  existence,  and  die  away  to  be  heard  of  no  more. 

If  such  be  the  true  state  of  the  case,  it  is  obviously  vain  tc 
expect  men  of  standing  in  their  profession  to  investigate  Ho- 
mceopathy  with  care,    "it  would  be  to  call  upon  them  to  turr 


ON   HOMCEOPATHY.  1] 

aside  from  their  legitimate  pursuits,  to  waste  their  time  whicl 
might  be  better  employed,  and  to  draw  them  into  a  field  of 
labor  which  would  never  be  exhausted ;  for  no  sooner  would 
they  expose  the  false  pretensions  of  one  form  of  quackery  than 
another  would  appear.  Hence  it  is  concluded  that  Homoeo- 
pathy must  be  contemned  as'  unworthy  of  notice;  and  those 
who,  from  a  weak  intellect,  or  from  sordid  motives,  are  in< 
to  adopt  the  hated  novelty  must  be  repelled  and  degraded. 

On  the  side  of  Homoeopathy  it  may  be  asked,  is  this  the  true 
view  to  be  taken  of  the  matter  in  hand  ? 

What  has  been  advanced  relative  to  the  meritorious  efforts 
of  the  profession  during  many  centuries  is  fully  admitted.  Foi 
this  the  meed  of  praise  is  offered  with  an  ungrudging  hand ; 
the  expression  of  thanks  is  tendered  with  a  grateful  heart ; 
but  the  inference  from  these  efforts,  that  the  end  has  been 
achieved,  can  not  be  admitted.  The  premises  are  true  but 
the  conclusion  does  not  follow.  The  imperfection,  the  confu- 
sion, the  acknowledged  absence  of  principle,  of  concord,  of 
settleclness  in  the  actual  condition  of  medicine,  proclaim  the 
fallacy  of  such  a  conclusion. 

That  there  is  room  for  improvement,  therefore,  can  not  be 
denied ;  neither  can  it  be  doubted  that  an  improved  method  is 
possible.  It  follows  that  the  plea  of  waste  of  time  against  the 
examination  of  new  methods  must  be  looked  upon  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  indolence  and  indifference,  and  as  such  falls  to  the 
ground.  This  plea  being  removed,  and  improvement  being 
possible,  the  leading  members  of  the  profession  are  held  under 
obligation  to  give  their  time  and  attention  to  the  investigation 
of  new  methods,  and  especially  of  one  coining  as  Homoeopath  v 
presents  itself,  and  which  is  pressed  upon  their  notice  by  so 
many  voices  in  their  own  booty. 

It  is  true  that  many  worthless  things  spring  up  and  soon 
die  away,  and  that  there  are  many  pretenders  and  much 
quackery  in  the  world ;  but  it  is  not  true  that  Homoeopathy 
can  be  thus  described.  It  has  not  sprung  up  with  any  mush- 
room growth,  for  it  has  been  struggling  to  take  root  these  fifty 
years;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  though  it  has  been  ass 
times  without  number,  that  it  was  dying  away,  by  parties, 
doubtless,  who  believed  that  to  be  true  which  they  desired  to 
be  so,  yet  Homoeopathy  does  not  die  away. 

But  it  will,  perhaps,  be  contended  that  Homoeopathy  lias 
been  examined  and  found  wanting,  and  Professor  APPEAL 
referred  to  in  proof.     I  have  always  entertained  a  Ijigh  re 
for  Professor  Andral,  having  known  him  long  ago,  and  I  can 
not  but  regret,  for  his  own  sake,  that  he  was  induced  to  under 


12  THE   CONTROVERSY 

take  such  a  trial  of  Homoeopathy  as  must  be  designated  by 
3 very  unbiased  person  as  having  been  ignorantly  and  disin- 
genuously made.  My  space  will  not  allow  me  to  describe  it 
in  detail ;  this  has  been  well  done  by  Dr.  Irvine,*  but  as  a 
trial  of  Homoeopathy  it  is  altogether  insignificant  and  value- 
less. All  other  trials  which  have  been  made,  so  far  as  I  am 
acquainted  with  them,  also  prove  nothing  but  the  ignorance 
and  the  prejudice  of  those  who  have  made  them. 

The  plea,  then,  that  medicine  has  come  down  to  us  settled 
of  old  time  is  a  false  plea. 

The  plea  that  medical  men  can  not  be  expected  to  examine 
new  methods  is  also  a  false  plea. 

The  plea  that  an  investigation  of  Homoeopathy  may  safely 
be  neglected,  because,  like  many  other  novelties,  it  will  soon 
die  away,  is  also  a  false  plea. 

The  plea  that  Homoeopathy  has  already  been  examined  by 
competent  persons,  and  proved  a  fallacy  by  experimental 
demonstration,  is  also  a  false  plea. 

The  plea  of  antiquity  itself  in  support  of  the  present  mode 
of  treatment,  is  a  false  plea  ;  for  the  present  times  are  the  an- 
cient times,  the  true  antiquity,  in  matters  of  this  kind,  as  has 
been  testified  often.  "What  in  common  language,"  says 
Jeremy  Bentham,  "is  called  old  time  ought  to  be  called 
young  or  early  time.  As  between  individual  and  individual, 
living  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  situation,  he  who  is 
old  possesses,  as  such,  more  experience  than  he  who  is  young ; 
as  between  generation  and  generation,  the  reverse  of  this  is 
true,  if,  as  in  ordinary  language,  a  preceding  generation  be, 
with  reference  to  a  succeeding  generation,  called  old  ;  the  old 
or  preceding  generation  could  not  have  had  so  much  experi- 
ence as  the  succeeding.  With  respect  to  such  of  the  materials 
or  sources  of  wisdom  which  have  come  under  the  cognizance 
of  their  own  senses,  the  two  are  on  a  par ;  with  respect  to  such 
of  those  materials  and  sources  of  wisdom  as  are  derived  from 
the  reports  of  others,'  the  latter  of  the  two  possesses  an  indis- 
putable advantage." 

Lord  Clarendon"  says,  on  this  subject:  "If  wisdom  and 
understanding  be  to  be  found  with  the  ancient,  that  time  is  the 
oldest  from  which  men  appeal  to  the  infancy  of  the  world.  .  .  . 
The  young  shall  have  much  to  answer,  if,  when  they  come  10 
be  old,  they  do  not  know  more,  and  judge  better,  than  they 
could  who  were  old  before  them." 

*  See  British  Journal  of  Homoeopathy,  1844,  and  Henderson's  "  Homceopa Un- 
fairly represented."     Appendix. 


ON   HOMOEOPATHY.  IS 

• 

These  eminent  writers  only  confirm  what  Lord  Bacon  had 
long  before  declared :  "  The  opinion  which  men  entertain  of 
antiquity  is  a  very  idle  thing  and  almost  incongruous  to  the 
word  ;  for  the  old  age  and  length  of  days  of  the  world  should 
in  reality  be  accounted  antiquity,  and  ought  to  be  attributed 
to  our  own  times,  not  to  the  youth  of  the  world  which  it  en- 
joyed among  the  ancients ;  for  that  age,  though,  with  respect 
to  us,  it  be  ancient  and  greater,  yet  with  regard  to  the  world 
it  was  new  and  less.  And  as  we  justly  expect  a  greater  know- 
ledge of  things  and  a  riper  judgment  from  a  man  of  years  than 
from  a  youth,  on  account  of  the  greater  experience,  and  the 
greater  variety  and  number  of  things  seen,  heard,  and  thought 
of  by  the  person  in  years ;  so  might  much  greater  matters  be 
justly  expected  from  the  present  age  than  from  former  times, 
as  this  is  the  more  advanced  age  of  the  world,  and  now  en- 
riched and  furnished  with  numberless  experiments  and  obser- 
vations." 

Thus  the  argument  from  antiquity,  when  rightly  considered, 
turns  out  to  be  in  favor  of  Homoeopathy,  as  the  discovery  of 
the  latest  period  of  the  world  ;  as  the  result  of  long-continued 
labor  which  was  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  be  rewarded  with 
fruit. 

The  uncertain  and  unsatisfactory  methods  of  healing,  pur- 
sued during  the  earl 3^  and  middle  ages  of  the  world,  were 
adopted,  not  because  none  better  could  be  found,  but  because, 
as  yet,  none  better  had  been  found.  The  better  is  now  dis- 
covered ;  and  as  well  might  people  refuse  to  travel  by  the 
railway,  or  to  receive  communications  through  the  telegraph, 
because  they  were  not  in  use  in  the  times  of  our  forefathers, 
as  refuse  to  avail  themselves  of  the  latest  improvements  in  the 
treatment  of  their  maladies. 


III.   THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  THE  MAJORITY. 

In  support  of  Allopathy  it  may  be  urged  that  Homoeopathy 

has  now  been  before  the  profession  more  than  half  a  century, 
and  it  is  still  rejected  by  a  very  large  majority  of  medical 
practitioners,  and  especially  by  nearly  all  who  occupy  places 
of  eminence  and  distinction.  It  has  met  with  "a  steady  rejec- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  great  body  of  the  profession,  notwith- 
standing its  claims  have  been  perseveringly  urged  by  its  advo- 
cates." And  it  is  to  be  "  remembered  that  the  profession  which 
has  so  perseveringly  and  almost  universally  rejected  Homoeo- 
pathy, is  composed  of  men  who  have  every  variety  of  opinions, 


14  THE  CONTROVERSY 

and  are  not  bound  together  by  any  particular  set  of  doctrines.' 
Again,  "  many  of  those  who  practice  according  to  this  system 
are  poorly-educated  and  irresponsible  men.  Unable  to  get  any 
hold  upon  the  profession,  Homoeopathy  has  received  most  of 
its  votaries  from  the  people." 

The  argument,  therefore,  against  Homoeopathy  from  num- 
bers and  personal  character  is  this :  it  is  still  rejected  by  the 
majority  of  the  medical  profession,  and  condemned  by  the  most 
distinguished  teachers  and  practitioners  of  the  art. 

On  the  other  side  it  may  be  remarked,  that  a  new  fact  or  a 
new  fancy  must  necessarily  at  first  be  known  by  a  small  mi- 
nority of  persons  ;  nay,  a  fact  observed  for  the  first  time,  or  a 
fancy  newly  imagined,  must,  in  the  first  instance,  be  limited  to 
a  single  individual.  Until  they  have  been  communicated  to 
others,  they  can  be  known  only  to  the  mind  which  has  ob- 
served or  imagined  them.  Truth  and  error  are  in  this  respect 
upon  an  equal  footing.  Harvey's  discovery  of  the  circulation 
of  the  blood,  and  Sir  Kenelm  Digby's  invention  of  the  wea- 
pon-salve, start  from  the  same  point — each  from  the  mind  of 
an  individual.  The  progressive  reception  by  mankind  of  the 
one  or  the  other  may  be  rapid,  or  it  may  be  slow  ;  little  can 
be  inferred  from  this  progress  in  favor  of  the  truth  of  the  one, 
or  the  falsehood  of  the  other.  As  therefore  the  rapid  progress 
of  Homoeopathy  would  not  prove  it  true,  so  neither  does  its 
slow  advancement  prove  it  false.  There  are  many  reasons 
which  account  for  and  explain  its  comparatively  tardy  recep- 
tion by  the  profession  ;  these  have  been  noticed  on  a  former 
occasion  ;*  but  there  is  a  force  in  one  circumstance  connected 
with  this  argument  of  the  highest  value,  the  importance  of 
which  demands  the  serious  attention  of  every  intelligent  per- 
son :  the  fact,  that  the  minority  who  have  adopted  Homoeo- 
pathy have  done  so  after  having  examined  and  tested  it  expe- 
mentally  in  their  own  hands,  and  have  been  thus  led  to  embrace 
it  from  conviction  of  its  truth  ;  while  the  majority  who  con- 
tinue to  reject  it,  have  not  examined  it,  will  not  examine  it, 
and  confessedly  remain  in  ignorance  of  the  nature  and  extent 
of  the  evidences  in  its  favor. 

Let  this  last  consideration  have  its  due  weight,  and  what 
becomes  of  the  objection  to  Homoeopathy  that  it  has  met  with 
"  a  steady  rejection  on  the  part  of  the  great  body  of  the  pro- 
fession ?"  It  tells  as  little  against  the  truth  of  Homoeopathy 
as  the  fact  tells  against  Christianity  that,  after  eighteen  centu- 
ries, a  large  majority  of  mankind  still  unhappily  reject  its 
evidences  and  its  blessings. 

*  Tratf  No.  5. 


ON  HOMCEOPATHY.  li 

Having  said  thus  much,  I  know  not  that  I  need  enlarge  upoi 
this  topic.  That  numbers  and  great  names  often  give  us  ver; 
little  help  in  our  search  after  truth,  is  an  old  remark  ;  neithe 
need  I  enter  again  upon  the  difficulties  which  impede  the  pro 
gress  of  Homoeopathy — they  have  been  discussed  in  anothe 
place.  Some  men  tell  us  at  once  that  they  studied  when  the^ 
were  students,  and  their  pride  is  wounded  by  the  request  t< 
"go  to  school  again ;"  some  men  will  not  give  themselves  tin 
trouble  either  to  read,  to  observe,  to  experiment,  or  to  think 
some  men  can  not  do  either  to  any  useful  purpose ;  whili 
others  agree  with  the  Vicar  of  Wakefield  in  believing  tha 
"  there  are  but  few  that  can  confute  them  in  argument." 


IV.   THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  IMPROBABILITY. 

This  attaches  to  the  dose.  The  novelty  of  the  announcemen 
that  a  drug  may  be  divided,  by  rubbing  in  a  mortar,  into  { 
million,  or  a  billion,  or  even  a  decillion  of  parts,  is  startling 
but  when  it  is  further  announced  that  these  closes  are  sum 
ciently  powerful  to  act  as  remedies  in  disease,  the  statement  i 
so  incredible  as  to  appear  absurd. 

We  have  here  two  great  improbabilities,  and  two  observa 
tions  in  addition,  which  claim  attention.  The  two  improba 
bilities  are,  first,  that  such  doses  can  be  prepared,  and,  secondly 
that  they  can  have  any  efficacy  in  curing  diseases ;  and  th< 
two  observations  are  as  follow  : 

First :  "  The  doses  administered  in  Homoeopathic  practice 
especially  at  the  present  time,  have  an  exceedingly  wide  range 
Hahnemann  himself,  although  he  recommended  the  thirtietl 
dilution  for  common  use,  did  sometimes  resort  to  even  alio 
pathic  doses,  as,  for  example,  in  the  treatment  of  cholera  witl 
camphor."  Many  entertain  the  idea  that  the  dose  must  b< 
regulated  by  the  different  degrees  of  sensibility  or  impressibilitj 
of  the  patient;  but  "  if  medicines  produce,  in  infinitesimal  doses 
such  effects  as  are  attributed  to  them,  and  if  there  1  >e  such  wid< 
differences  in  the  susceptibility  of  the  sick,  it  must  be  very  im 
portant  to  fix  upon  exactly  the  right  dose  in  each  case."  "  IJ 
an  error  should  chance  to  be  committed,  the  effect  must  h 
horribly  destructive." 

The  second  observation :  "If  both  ordinary  doses  and  in 
finitesimal  ones  cure  disease,  they  must,"  it  is  said  "  do  it  ir 
different  ways.  The  action  of  the  p  ►tentize'l  Lofinil  esimal  upoi 
the  system  must  be  regulated  by  different  principles  from  those 
which  govern  the  action  of  the  same  article  in  its  crude  form.' 


16  THE   CONTROVERSY 

"  Let  me  illustrate  this  truth  in  a  familiar  manner.  You  see 
a  heavy  weight  raised  by  a  rope  ;  suppose  now  that  some  one 
take  from  that  rope  a  filament  so  small  that  it  is  invisible,  and 
with  this  raises  the  same  weight.  We  should  say  at  once  the 
rope  and  filament  do  not  raise  the  weight  upon  the  same  prin 
ciples — that  some  new  power  is  given  to  the  filament  which  is 
not  possessed  by  the  rope.  '  True,'  says  the  Homceopathist, 
'  that  is  clear  enough,  and  we  claim  that  a  new  power  is  given 
to  medicine  by  trituration  and  attenuation  !'  Why,  then,  I  ask, 
do  you  not  adhere  to  this  view  of  the  subject?  You  are  not 
consistent  with  yourself.  While  you  say  that  a  new  power  is 
given  to  the  infinitesimal  which  does  not  belong  to  the  medi- 
cine in  its  crude  state,  and  by  this  power  it  cures  disease,  you 
at  the  same  time  claim  that  the  law,  similia  similibus  curantur, 
is  the  principle  on  which  both  infinitesimal  and  crude  medi- 
cines effect  cures,  which  is  as  absurd  as  to  say  that  the  invisible 
filament  raises  the  weight  upon  the  same  principle  as  the  rope 
does." 

Such  is  the  view  of  the  argument  as  advanced  against  Ho- 
moeopathy ;  the  efficacy  of  the  infinitesimal  dose  is  utterly 
wanting,  it  is  thought,  on  the  score  of  probability. 

In  reply  to  the  first  assertion,  namely,  the  improbability  that 
it  is  practically  possible  to  divide  any  thing  into  a  decillion  of 
parts,  it  can  be  shown  that  nothing  is  more  simple  and  easy. 
Suppose  we  take  thirty  new  and  clean  half-ounce  bottles,  and 
place  them  in  a  row  ;  and  put  corks  in  them ;  and  mark  the 
corks  with  the  numbers  from  one  to  thirty  ;  and  put  into  No. 
1  ninety-eight  drops  of  alcohol,  and  into  each  of  the  remaining 
bottles  ninety-nine  drops  of  alcohol ;  and  put  into  No.  1  two 
drops  of  the  "Mother  Tincture"  of  any  liquid  medicine,  (which 
consists  of  the  juice  of  the  plant  and  alcohol  in  equal  parts,) 
and  shake  this  bottle  well ;  and  put  one  drop  of  this  first  dilu- 
tion into  the  bottle  marked  No.  2,  and  shake  it  well ;  and  put 
one  drop  of  No.  2  into  No.  3,  and  shake  it ;  and  proceed  in 
the  same  manner  through  the  thirty  bottles.  By  this  time  we 
shall  have  divided  the  original  drop  of  the  medicine  so  that  the 
30th  dilution  contains  a  decillionth  part  of  it.  This  proceeding 
will  not  have  occupied  an  hqur,  and  the  quantity  of  alcohol 
consumed  will  have  been  about  six  ounces ;  instead  of  the 
oceans  of  spirit  required,  according  to  the  calculations  of 
mathematicians  and  doctors. 

Is  not  this  quite  simple  and  easy  ?  And  for  a  solid  not  less 
simple,  though  a  likle  more  laborious.  A  grain  is  to  be  care- 
fully triturated  with  ninety-nine  grains  of  sugar  of  milk  in  divid- 
ed portions  for  an  hour ;  a  grain  of  this  first  trituration  is  to  be 


ON  HOMOEOPATHY.  17 

rubbed  ia  a  similar  manner  for  the  second ;  and  a  grain  of  the 
second  for  the  third  trituration.  After  this  the  substance  be- 
comes soluble,  and  the  remaining  dilutions  can  be  made  as  in 
the  case  of  the  tinctures — twenty-seven  bottles  being  required 
to  obtain  the  thirtieth  dilution.  For  proofs  that  these  dilutions 
retain  the  medicinal  properties  of  the  drug  sufficiently  to  act 
upon  disease,  I  must  refer  to  a  preceding  Tract,  (No.  4.) 

The  accomplishment  of  the  fact  does  away  with  the  impro- 
bability. 

In  reply  to  the  second  assertion,  namely,  the  improbability 
that  these  doses  have  any  effect  in  curing  disease,  it  can  be 
shown  that  nothing  is  more  true,  if  the  testimony  of  every  me- 
dical practitioner  who  is  in  the  daily  habit  of  administering 
them  in  disease  can  be  relied  upon.  It  is  well  known  that 
the  number  of  these  witnesses  now  amounts  to  thousands  ;  that 
they  have  been  trained  in  medical  studies  and  pursuits,  as  their 
brethren  whom  they  have  left  in  the  ranks  of  Allopathy  ;  and 
it  is  well  known  that  none  talk  about  the  improbability  of  this 
medicinal  action  but  those  who  have  not  been  willing  to  wit- 
ness it.  The  subject  therefore  stands  in  this  position  :  the  effi- 
cacy of  the  small  dose  is  a  fact  which  "  strikes  the  eyes  of  all 
who  do  not  keep  them  shut."     ' 

The  strong  impression  I  have  in  my  own  mind  of  the  cer- 
tainty of  this  fact  contrasts  painfully  with  the  inability  I  feel  to 
convey  that  impression  to  another.  From  this  we  may  learn 
the  great  difference  which  exists  between  physical  science  and 
mathematics  or  morality :  the  latter  admit  of  demonstrations, 
the  former  does  not.  We  can  not  know  the  facts  of  natural 
philosophy  except  by  the  observation  of  our  own  senses.  We 
may  believe  some  things  to  be  true  on  the  testimony  of  others, 
which  we  have  not  ourselves  observed,  as  that  there  are  men 
and  trees  in  parts  of  the  world  which  we  have  not  visited ; 
but  if  the  things  told  us  are  very  unlike  our  observations,  we 
have  the  utmost  difficulty  in  believing  them,  until  we  can 
observe  them  ourselves :  then  we  know  to  be  true  what  before 
We  could  not  believe  on  any  testimony  from  others.  When  the 
Dutch  ambassador  told  the  king  of  Siam  that  in  his  country 
the  water,  in  cold  weather,  sometimes  became  so  hard  thai  it 
would  bear  an  elephant,  the  king  replied  :  "Hitherto  I  have 
believed  the  strange  things  you  have  told  me  because  I  look 
upon  you  as  a  sober,  fair  man  ;  but  now  lam  sure  you  lie  /" 

Homceopathists  are  precisely  in  the  same  predicament  of  the 
Dutch  ambassador.  What  could  he  say  to  vindicate  his  truth- 
fulness ?  Nothing  short  of  a  journey  to  Holland  would  cleaT 
him.     What  can  the  Homoeopathists  say  to  vindicate  theirs  ? 

No.  vtii. — 2 


18  THE  CONTROVEKSY 

Nothing  short  of  a  trial  of  th«  medicines  can  produce  in  the 
minds  of  their  opponents  the  conviction  of  their  honesty,  and 
of  the  truth  of  their  assertion.  My  inability  to  produce  con- 
viction by  argument  arises  out  of  the  nature  of  the  case,  not 
from  its  doubtfulness :  much,  therefore,  as  I  feel  the  import- 
ance of  this  point,  I  shall  content  myself  with  a  simple  illustra- 
tion. 

Kuckert  reports  eighty -four  cases  of  cure  of  headache  effect- 
ed by  fifty-one  different  physicians.  Only  one  remedy  was 
given  in  each  case,  and  the  exact  dose  used  is  mentioned. 
Most  of  the  cases  were  chronic,  and  of  several  years'  standing. 

"Strong  doses  were  used,  namely:  from  the  pure  tinct  .re 
to  the  third  dilution,  in  twenty-one  cases ;  one  dose  sufficed 
to  cure  in  five  instances  ;  one  dose  in  solution  was  repeated  in 
one  instance  ;  repeated  doses  were  required  in  fifteen  cases. 

"  The  higher  dilutions,  namely :  from  the  fourth  to  the  thir- 
tieth, were  used  in  fifty  cases  ;  one  dose  sufficed  to  effect  a  cure 
in  thirty  instances;  one  dose  in  solution  and  repeated  in 
three  instances ;  repeated  doses  were  required  in  seventeen  in- 
stances. 

"  The  very  high  dilutions  were  used  in  thirteen  cases ; 
single  doses  in  ten  instances ;  in  solution  repeatedly  in  three 
instances." 

Is  it  possible  that  all  these  recoveries  can  have  been  mere 
coincidences — post  hoc,  not  propter  hoc  f  Have  each  of  these 
fifty-one  physicians  uttered  a  falsehood  ? 

In  reply  to  the  first  observation,  that  the  doses  in  Homoeo- 
pathic practice  have  an  exceedingly  wide  range,  it  may  be 
remarked  again  that  the  dose  is,  as  yet,  an  unsettled  and  diffi- 
cult question.  One  of  the  main  causes  of  this  unsettledness 
and  difficulty  is  the  manner  in  which  Hahnemann  himself  has 
dealt  with  it.  When  expounding  his  belief  in  the  principle  of 
Homoeopathy,  Hahnemann  pursues  the  only  scientific  and 
legitimate  course — he  gives  us  the  proofs  which  have  satisfied 
his  own  mind  of  its  truth  :  we  can  examine  these  proofs,  and  if 
they  are  as  satisfactory  to  our  own  minds  as  they  were  to  his, 
we  also  assent  to  the  principle,  and  believe  it  to  be  true  for  the 
reasons  assigned.  We  believe  it  to  be  true,  not  because 
Hahnemann  said  it  was  true,  but  because  he  has  shown  us  the 
proofs  of  its  truth.  We  follow  him  in  this  as  the  astronomers 
follow  Newton,  and  the  chemists  Eichter  and  Dalton.  Un- 
happily for  Homoeopathy,  Hahnemann  has  not  pursued  the 
same  course  with  reference  to  the  dose.  He  has  not  given  us 
the  means  of  judging  hoiu  far  his  conclusions  on  this  subject  are  well 
founded.    He  says,  indeed,  very  ike  a  dictator :  "  It  holds  good, 


ON  HOMOEOPATHY.  IS 

and  will  continue  to  hold  good,  as  a  homoeopathic  therapeutic 
maxim,  not  to  be  refuted  by  any  experience  in  the  world,  that 
the  best,  dose  of  the  properly  selected  remedy  is  always  the 
very  smallest  one,  in  one  of  the  high  dynamizations,  (30th)  as 
well  for  chronic  as  for  acute  diseases."*  Now  I  have  no  objec- 
tion to  adopt  the  thirtieth  dilution  for  a  dose,  if  it  can  be  shown 
me  that  it  is  really  the  best ;  but  I  can  not  take  any  man'? 
mere  word,  without  proofs,  on  such  a  point.  I  am  therefore 
under  obligation  to  try  the  different  dilutions  for  myself. 
How  would  any  one  look  when  an  intelligent  interrogator  in- 
quired of  him  the  reason  why  he  always  gave  the  thirtieth  di- 
lution, if  he  could  give  no  better  answer  than  this :  "I  follow 
the  ipse  dixit  of  the  master;  Hahnemann  said  it  was  the 
best." 

Suppose  the  discoverer  of  the  mariner's  compass  had  proved 
to  us  experimentally  the  magnetic  action  whieh  is  its  principle, 
and  then  told  us,  with  a  mysterious  air,  that  the  needle  must 
always  be  five  inches  long,  that  no  experience  in  the  world 
could  refute  this,  or  prove  that  a  needle  four  inches  long,  or 
one  six  inches  long  would  answer  as  well ;  would  it  be  wise 
and  manly  to  submit  to  such  dictation  as  this  ?  So  with  the 
homoeopathic  dose,  it  must  remain,  not  nominally  but  really, 
an  open  question,  until  sufficient  proofs  can  be  collected  to 
show  us  which  is  the  best. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Hahnemann's  own  views  on 
this  subject  underwent  many  changes,  although  on  each  occa- 
sion, when  he  published  them,  they  were  delivered  in  the 
same  peremptory  and  oracular  tone.  Some  would  have  us  to 
follow  him  with  blind  obedience ;  they  would  place  him  in 
that  seat  in  medicine  which  Galen  occupied  for  fifteen  hun- 
dred years,  and  which  Akistotle  held  in  philosophy  for  a  still 
longer  period.  May  I,  without  giving  offense,  again  remind 
them  of  Locke's  observation,  "  "Pis  not  worth  while  to  be  con- 
cerned what  he  says  or  thinks,  who  says  or  thinks  only  as  he 
is  directed  by  another." 

Let  me  be  understood.  The  objection  is  not  to  the  adoption 
of  this  or  that  dose,  but  to  the  adoption  of  it  without  proof  that 
it  is  the  best.  Give  us  the  proofs,  and  it  shall  be  thankfully 
adopted  on  the  instant.  We  are  told,  indeed,  by  some  Homceo- 
pathists  that  the  onus  probandi  that  Hah n km  ann  and  hifl  faith- 
ful disciples  are  in  error  lies  on  our  shoulders.  As  it  respects 
sl  given  dose,  the  thirtieth  dilution  for  example,  this  is  placing 
the  matter  in  a  false  position ;  it  is  calling  for  proof  of  the 

*  "  Organon,"  page  289,  note. 


20  THE   CONTROVERSY 

negative  before  any  proof  of  the  positive  has  been  advanced. 
On  this  point  we  have  had  a  great  deal  of  assertion,  but  no 
proof.  Now  the  first  burden  of  proof  clearly  lies  with  the 
teacher,  to  show  that  he  is  right.  Had  Hahnemann  given  us 
the  details  of  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  cases,  illustrating  and 
confirming  his  directions  regarding  this  dose,  the  latter  would 
have  had  weight ;  a  dogmatic  assertion  without  an  attempt  at 
proof  is  not  entitled  to  respect.  As  it  regards  the  fixing  upon 
any  dose  in  the  manner  done  by  Hahnemann,  I  accept  the 
challenge,  and  at  once  point  out  the  error.  "Hahnemann 
and  his  faithful  disciples"  are  not  entitled  to  choose  a  dose  and 
demand" that  every  one  shall  adopt  it,  unless  they  give  the  rea- 
sons upon  which  the  choice  rests,  in  such  a  manner  as  will 
enable  others  to  judge  how  far  those  reasons  are  adequate  to 
support  the  choice.  This  is  the  error.  A  dose  has  been  pre- 
scribed. I  wait  for  such  evidence  in  its  favor  as  the  nature  of 
the  case  admits. 

I  am  far  from  thinking  the  variety  of  doses  an  unimportant 
matter;  on  the  contrary,  I  think  it  is  the  point  to  which 
Homoeopathists  should  very  much  concentrate  their  attention, 
in  the  hope  that  a  body  of  facts  may  be  collected  from  which 
we  may  infer,  in  a  truly  scientific  manner,  which  is  the  best 
dose,  or  series  of  doses.  In  this  we  must  be  guided  by  proofs, 
not  by  authority. 

In  the  mean  time,  daily  experience  abundantly  testifies  the 
value  and  efficacy  of  the  various  small  doses,  and  proves  that 
so  far  from  being  "  horribly  destructive,"  no  permanent  evil 
results  from  their  use. 

The  second  observation  is  one  of  considerable  interest  and 
importance.  It  is  said :  "  If  both  ordinary  doses  and  infinitesi- 
mal ones  cure  disease,  they  must  do  it  in  different  ways."  And 
this  statement  is  illustrated  by  supposing  a  rope  and  an  invisi- 
ble filament  to  raise  the  same  weight.  Now  we  know  that  a 
rope  and  a  thread  so  fine  as  to  be  invisible  could  not  raise  a 
heavy  weight  on  the  same  principle  ;  because  we  know  some- 
thing of  the  mechanical  principles  upon  which  the  rope  would 
raise  the  weight,  and  we  know  that  the  thread  could  not  raise 
it  on  those  principles — it  could  have  no  mechanical  power. 
If  therefore  the  illustration  were  really  a  parallel  to  the  point 
in  question  it  would  make  the  conclusion  evident ;  but  the 
truth  is,  it  is  not  a  parallel,  and  therefore  no  illustration  at  all. 
We  do  not  know  the  mode-  of  action  of  the  ordinary  dose, 
neither  do  we  know  the  mode  of  action  of  the  small  dose ;  con- 
sequently we  can  not  know  that  the  modes  are  different — for 
any  thing  we  know  to  the  co  ltrary,  the  two  doses  may  act  in 


ON    HOMOEOPATHY.  21 

the  same  mode,  on  the  same  principle  ;  and  therefore  the  law 
of  similia  similibus  curantur  may  apply  to  both.  Thus  both  the 
observation  and  the  ingenious  illustration  disappear. 

The  objection,  however,  is  fatal  to  the  dynamization  hypo- 
thesis of  Hahnemann,  and  may  serve  as  a  warning  to  some 
Homoeopathists  not  to  advocate  that  untenable  notion  to  the 
extent  they  do.  The  assumptions  of  Hahnemann  on  this  sub- 
ject, in  his  "  Organon,"  are  unwarranted,  and  consequently  his 
assertions  are  of  little  value.  For  example,  he  assumes  that 
"  spiritual  power  is  hid  in  the  inner  nature  of  medicines  ;"  that 
"  homoeopathic  dynamizations,"  (rubbing  the  solid  in  a  mortar, 
and  shaking  the  liquid  in  a  vial,)  "  are  real  awakenings"  of 
this  power ;  and  hence  at  one  time  he  asserts  that  there  must 
be  ten  shakes,  and  at  another,  only  two.  He  even  ventures 
upon  what  I  can  not  but  call  the  following  random  shot :  "I 
dissolved,"  he  says,  "  a  grain  of  soda  in  an  ounce  of  water 
mixed  with  alcohol,  in  a  vial,  which  was  thereby  filled  two 
thirds  full,  and  shook  this  solution  continuously  for  half  an 
hour,  and  this  was  in  dynamization  and  energy  equal  to  the 
thirtieth  development  of  power?" 

It  would  be  very  difficult  for  any  one  holding  this  hypothe- 
sis of  "  dynamization"  or  "  spiritualization"  to  answer  satisfac- 
torily the  objection  now  under  consideration.  It  is  highly 
improbable  that  the  principle  of  Homoeopathy  can  apply  equally 
to  the  action  of  drugs  in  a  crude  state,  and  in  infinitesimal 
closes,  if  the  latter  act  in  a  "  spiritual"  manner,  and,  as  sup- 
posed, not  after  the  same  mode  as  the  former.  Of  course  I 
mean  the  medicinal  action  ;  a  large  dose  of  a  drug,  e.  g.,  nitrate 
of  silver,  will  have  other  actions,  such  as  chemical  ones,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  medicinal  effect.  I  have  adduced  other  reasons 
in  former  Tracts  why  this  hypothesis  ought  to  be  abandoned.* 

Hahnemann  has  discovered  facts  for  which  the  human 
family  owe  him  a  debt  of  gratitude,  but  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
fend his  speculations,  or  to  apologize  for  his  dogmatism.  In 
some  respects  he  resembles  Keplek,  whose  name  is  had  in 
grateful  remembrance  by  astronomers  for  his  discovery  of  three 
remarkable  laws  connected  with  the  planetary  system,  while 
all  his  numerous  speculations  have  passed  into  oblivion.  Those 
of  Hahnemann  must  have  a  like  fate.  They  have  greatly 
impeded  the  progress  of  Homoeopathy,  by  hiding  its  truth.     I 

*  I  must  be  understood  to  mean  II  \iim:m  wn's  hypothesis  of  On 
of  a  new  medicinal  action  by  trituration,  distinct  from  the  action  of  the  crude  me- 
dicine.   There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  word  "dynamic"  may  be  applied  to  the 

action  of  medicine  in  all  doses,  which  I  shall  hope  to  explain  in  a  future  number 


22  THE   CONTROVERSY   ON   HOMCEOPATHY. 

doubt  not  also  that  many  intelligent  inquirers  have  been  re- 
pelled from  the  study  of  it  by  his  intolerable  dictation. 

To  separate  truth  from  fiction  is  generally  a  difficult  and  un- 
gracious task,  and  seldom  popular.  The  sentiments  which 
Plato  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Socrates,  "  rb  yap  dX7]deg 
ovderrore  eAeyx£Tat"  "truth  is  never  refuted,"  is  the  encourage- 
ment to  this  labor ;  the  love  of  truth  is  the  motive  which  con- 
strains to  it ;  and  the  discovery  and  exhibition  of  truth  is  part 
of  its  reward. 

Rugby,  Nov.  11th,  1853. 


i 


Smarts  on  |)onuTOjjatIji|.-|lo. 

1 

9. 

THE    REMEDIES 

OF 

H  0  M  CE  0  P  A  T  H  Y . 

*. 

BY    WILLIAM    SHARP,    11. D.,    F. 

R.S. 

Smtjj  (fEbition. 

F.    E.    BOERICKE: 

HAHNEMANN    PUBLISHING    HOUSE, 

PHILADELPHIA. 

"  The  Love  of  Truth  is  of  equal  importance  in  the  reception  of  facts,  and 
m  the  formation  of  opinions;  and  it  includes  also  a  readiness  to  relinquish 
our  own  opinions,  when  new  facts  or  arguments  are  presented  to  us  which 
are  calculated  to  overturn  them."  Abercrombie. 


THE  REMEDIES  OF  HOMEOPATHY. 


"  Ce  seroit  faire  tort  au  progres  des  sciences  que  de  ne  pas  vouloir  abandonner 
des  theories  coutraires  aux  observations  que  presente  l'etat  actuel  de  nos  connois- 
sances."  Baron  Humboldt. 

It  would  be  doing  an  injury  to  the  progress  of  science  were  we  not  willing  to 
give  up  hypotheses  which  are  contrary  to  the  observations  furnished  by  the  pre- 
sent condition  of  our  knowledge. 


On  a  former  occasion,*  I  have  pointed  out  the  precise  limits 
within  which  the  principle  of  Homoeopathy,  usimilia  similibiis 
curantur"  can  be  applied  to  diseases;  the  counterpart  to  that 
inquiry  remains,  what  are  the  limits  within  which  it  is  appli- 
cable to  remedies  f  I  propose  now  to  attempt  an  answer  to  this 
question. 

From  a  careful  study  of  the  "Organon"  and  other  writings 
of  Hahnemann,  we  learn  that  he  viewed  the  law  of  similia 
similibus  curantur  as  applying,  first,  to  the  power  which  one 
disease  exerts  over  another ;  secondly,  to  the  influence  of  men- 
tal emotions ;  thirdly  to  the  action  of  the  so-called  imponderable 
agents,  light,  heat,  electricity,  and  magnetism;  and  fourthly, 
to  the  operation  of  drugs.  It  is  necessary  to  study  each  of 
these  subjects  separately. 


I.  THE  HOMCEOPATHIC  ACTION  OF  DISEASES. 

Hahnemann  divides  natural  diseases  into  two  great  clas 
the  one  consisting  of  such  as  are  dissimilar,  the  other  of  such 
as  are  similar  to  each  other.  And  he  remarks  "that  no  pre- 
viously existing  disease  can  be  cured,  even  by  nature  herself; 
by  the  accession  of  a  new  dissimilar  disease,  be  it  ever  so 
strong."  "Totally  different,  however,  is  the  result  when  two 
similar  diseases  meet  together  in  the  organism,  that  is  to  Bay, 
when  to  the  disease  already  present,  a  stronger  similar  one  is 

*  Tract  No.  7. 


4  THE   KEMEDIES   OF   HOMOEOPATHY. 

added.  In  such  cases  we  see  how  a  cure  can  be  effected  by  the 
operations  of  nature,  and  we  get  a  lesson  as  to  how  we  ought 
to  cure." 

Dissimilar  diseases  he  arranges  under  three  heads :  1st.  If  the 
two  dissimilar  diseases  meeting  together  be  of  equal  strength, 
or  still  more  if  the  older  one  be  the  stronger,  the  new  disease 
will  be  repelled  by  the  old  one  from  the  body,  and  not  allowed 
to  affect  it."     The  following  are  his  examples  : 

"  The  plague  of  the  Levant  does  not  break  out  where  scurvy 
is  prevalent." 

"  Persons  suffering  from  herpetic  eruptions  are  not  infected 
by  the  plague." 

11  Rachitis  prevents  vaccination  from  taking  effect." 

"  Those  suffering  from  pulmonary  consumption  are  not  liable 
to  be  attacked  by  epidemic  fevers  of  a  not  very  violent  charac- 
ter." 

"  2d.  Or  the  new  dissimilar  disease  is  the  stronger.  In 
this  case  the  disease  under  which  the  patient  originally  labor- 
ed, will,  as  the  weaker,  be  kept  back  and  suspended  by  the 
accession  of  the  stronger  one,  until  the  latter  shall  have  run  its 
course  or  been  cured,  arid  then  the  old  one  again  makes  its  ap- 
pearance uncured."     These  are  the  instances  given  : 

"  Two  children  affected  with  a  kind  of  epilepsy  remained  free 
from  epileptic  attacks  after  infection  with  ring- worm;  but  as 
soon  as  the  eruption  on  the  head  was  gone,  the  epilepsy  re- 
turned just  as  before." 

"  The  itch,  as  Schopf  saw,  disappeared  on  the  occurrence 
of  the  scurvy,  but  after  the  cure  of  the  latter  it  again  broke 
out." 

"  Pulmonary  phthisis  remained  stationary  when  the  patient 
was  attacked  by  a  violent  typhus,  but  went  on  again  after  the 
latter  had  run  its  course." 

"  If  mania  occur  in  a  consumptive  patient,  the  phthisis  with 
all  its  symptoms  is  removed  by  the  former,  but  if  that  go  off, 
the  phthisis  returns  immediately  and  proves  fatal." 

'•  When  measles  and  small-pox  are  prevalent  at  the  same  time, 
and  both  attack  the  same  child,  the  measles  that  had  already 
broken  out  is  generally  checked  by  the  small-pox  that  came 
somewhat  later ;  nor  does  the  measles  resume  its  course  until 
after  the  cure  of  the  small -pox."  Sometimes  the  reverse  of  this 
takes  place.  So  with  scarlatina  and  cow-pox.  The  scarlatina 
will  sometimes  suspend  the  cow-pox,  and  sometimes  the  reverse 
will  happen.  The  measles  suspends  the  cow-pox,  but  does  not 
prevent  it  from  afterwards  running  its  course.  So  with  the 
mumps  and  cow-pox. 


i 


THE   KEMEDIES   OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  5 

"And  thus  it  is  with  all  dissimilar  diseases,  the  stronger  sus- 
pends the  weaker,  but  the  one  never  cures  the  other,11 

"  3rd.  Or  the  new  disease  joins  the  old  one  that  is  dissimi- 
lar to  it,  and  forms  with  it  a  complex  disease." 

When  two  dissimilar  acute  infectious  diseases  meet,  as,  for 
example,  small-pox  and  measles,  the  one  usually  suspends  the 
other,  but  in  rare  cases  the  two  for  a  short  time  combine,  as  it 
were,  with  each  other,  as  seen  by  P.  Russell,  and  others. 
Zencker  saw  cow-pox  run  its  regular  course  along  with  measles 
and  along  with  purpura.11     Such  are  the  dissimilar  diseases. 

Let  us  now  learn  what  those  diseases  are  which  Hahnemann 
arranges  together  as  similar,  and  of  which  he  asserts  that  they 
"can  neither  repel  one  another,  nor  suspend  one  another,  noi 
exist  beside  earn  other."  "  No !  invariably,  and  in  every  case, 
do  two  diseases,  differing,  certainly,  in  kind,  but  very  similar 
in  their  phenomena  and  effects,  annihilate  one  another,  when- 
ever they  meet  together  in  the  organism."  And  as  his  "object 
is  to  speak  about  something  determinate  and  indubitable,"  he 
gives  the  following  proofs  of  the  assertion  just  quoted. 

"  The  small-pox,  so  dreaded  on  account  of  the  great  numbei 
and  severity  of  its  symptoms,  has  removed  and  cured  a  numbei 
of  affections  with  similar  symptoms."  Such  as  ophthalmia^ 
amaurosis — a  case  of  the  latter,  "  of  two  years  duration,  conse- 
quent on  suppressed  ring-worm11 — deafness,  difficulty  of  breath- 
ing, dysentery. 

"  The  cow-pox,  a  peculiar  symptom  of  which  is  to  cause 
tumefaction  of  the  arm,  cured,  after  it  broke  out,  a  swollen  half 
paralyzed  arm." 

"  The  fever  accompanying  cow-pox  cured  homoeopathicallj 
an  intermittent  fever  in  two  individuals." 

"  The  measles  bears  a  strong  resemblance  in  the  character  of 
its  fever  and  cough  to  the  hooping-cough,  and  hence  it  was  thai 
Bosquillon  noticed  in  an  epidemic  where  both  these  affection? 
prevailed  that  many  citizens  who  then  took  measles  remainec 
free  from  hooping-cough  during  that  epidemic." 

"If  the  measles  come  in  contact  with  a  disease  resembling  il 
in  its  chief  symptom,  the  eruption,  it  can  indisputably  remov< 
and  effect  a  homoeopathic  cure  of  the  latter.  Thus  a  chr<>nh 
herp  tic  eruption  was  entirely  and  permanently  (homoeopath! 
cally)  cured  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  m  asles." 

"An  excessively  burning  military  rash  on  the  face,  neck,  anc 
arms,  that  had  last  d  six  years,  under  the  influence  ofwj 
assumed  the  form  of  a  swelling  of  the  surface  of  the  skin;  aftei 
the  measles  had  run  its  course,  the  rash  was  cured,  and  return 
ed  no  more." 


6  THE  EEMEDIES  OF  HOMOEOPATHY. 

"  Nothing  could  teach  the  physician  in  a  plainer  and  more 
convincing  manner  than  the  above,  what  kind  of  artificial  mor- 
bific potency  (medicine)  he  ought  to  choose,  in  order  to  cure  in 
a  sure,  rapid,  and  permanent  manner,  agreeably  to  the  process 
that  takes  place  in  nature."  * 

I  have  extracted  thus  largely  from  the  "Organon"  upon 
this  point  for  several  reasons ;  first  that  I  might  give  a  full 
account  of  the  argument  as  propounded  by  Hahnemann  ; 
secondly,  that  the  two  lists  may  be  read  in  their  connection  ; 
this  I  can  not  bat  think  will  be  sufficient  to  convince  every  in- 
telligent person  that  the  supposed  homoeopathic  relation  of  one 
disease  to  another  is  imaginary  and  untrue ;  and  thirdly,  to 
point  out  how  unfit  the  "Organon"  is  to  be  held  up  as  a  text- 
book to  students,  and  how  unsafe  a  guide  Hahnemann  would 
prove  to  those  who  surrender  themselves  to  him  in  implicit 
obedience.  Truly,  never  was  hypothesis  based  upon  more 
slender  materials ;  never  did  assertion  and  inadequate  proof 
appear  more  conspicuously  side  by  side  than  in  these  para- 
graphs. 

It  can  not  be  necessary  to  examine  in  detail  these  so-called 
dissimilar  and  similar  diseases.  It  may  suffice  to  remark  that 
measles  and  small  pox,  which  are  so  far  alike  that  for  centuries 
they  were  supposed  to  be  modifications  of  the  same  disease,  are 
classed  as  dissimilar ;  while  measles  and  hooping-cough,  with 
all  their  visible  difference,  are  classed  as  similar,  and  as  honioeo- 
pathically  curing  one  another !  A  few  months  ago  there  was 
an  epidemic  of  measles  in  this  neighborhood;  some  of  the 
children  had  no  sooner  recovered  from  the  measles,  than  they 
were  attacked  with  the  hooping-cough. 

It  might  be  thought  that  there  was  some  similarity  between 
cow-pox  and  chicken-pox ;  certainly  they  resemble  each  other 
more  closely  than  do  measles  and  hooping-cough.  The  follow- 
ing cases  occurred  to  me  this  summer : 

On  the  17th  of  August,  1853,  I  vaccinated  three  brothers  ; 
John  Clarke,  aged  sixteen  years ;  William,  aged  fourteen ;  and 
George,  aged  eleven.  On  the  eighth  day  the  vaccination  on 
William's  arms  had  taken  effect,  and  was  running  its  usual 
course ;  the  others  seemed  to  have  failed.  John  I  re- vaccinated ; 
but  George  presented  a  rash,  having  the  appearance  of  chicken- 
pox,  which  prevented  his  re-vaccination.  At  the  end  of  the 
second  week,  William's  cow-pox  was  completed;  George's  chick- 
en-pox was  going  on ;  but  John,  instead  of  presenting  the  pus- 
tules of  cow-pox  on  the  arms,  was  covered  with  chicken-pox : 

*  Organon,  §§  xxxv.  to  xlvii. 


THE  REMEDIES  OF  HOMCEOPATHY.  7 

this  subsided  in  due  time,  and  then  the  cow-pox  appeared,  and 
went  through  its  accustomed  stages.  On  the  10th  of  September, 
twenty -four  days  after  he  had  been  vaccinated,  George  was 
brought  to  me ;  his  chicken-pox  had  disappeared,  but  he  had 
now  a  large  cow-pox  pustule,  on  the  back  of  the  right  hand^ 
with  inflamed  absorbents,  and  an  enlarged  gland  in  the  axilla ; 
the  pustule  ran  through  its  usual  course,  when  the  accompany- 
ing symptoms  disappeared.  Thus  the  resemblance  between 
cow-pox  and  chicken-pox,  which  is  certainly  greater  than  that 
between  cow-pox  and  intermittent  fever,  produced  no  homoeo- 
pathic cure  of  either. 

Well  might  Hahnemann  conclude  this  part  of  his  subject 
with  the  remark:  "We  should  have  been  able  to  meet  with 
many  more  true,  natural  homoeopathic  cures  of  this  kind  if 
nature  had  not  been  so  deficient  in  homoeopathic  auxiliary 
diseases ." 

Rait,  who  has  also  written  an  "  Organon"  in  some  respects 
more  interesting  and  instructive  than  Hahnemann's,  objects  to 
the  instances  of  similarity  in  diseases  brought  forward  by  the 
latter. 

He  says:  "  In  many  of  these  cases  the  external  similarity  is 
not  very  remarkable.  If  small-pox  is  sometimes  accompanied 
or  succeeded  by  a  swelling  of  the  arm,  dysenteric  diarrhoea, 
ophthalmia,  and  blindness,  it  does  not  follow  that  there  is  a 
similarity  between  these  diseases  and  small-pox."  Rau,  how- 
ever, does  not  reject  the  notion  as  unfounded,  but  endeavors  to 
prove  it  by  other,  and,  as  he  thinks,  by  better  instances.  He 
goes  on  to  say:  "There  are  other  much  more  instructive  and 
convincing  cases,  such  as  habitual  headache  disappearing  in 
consequence  of  a  typhus ;  or  paralysis  of  the  arm  as  a  sequel 
of  typhus,  disappearing  again  after  the  lapse  of  several  years 
under  the  influence  of  a  second  attack  of  typhus."  I  must 
confess  I  do  not  see  that  these  examples  are  at  all  more  "con- 
vincing "  than  Hahnemann's. 

Such  are  the  best  proofs  which  have  been  adduced  in  sup- 
port of  the  application  of  the  law  of  similia  similibus  curantur 
to  the  action  of  diseases  upon  each  other.  The  influence  which 
diseases  exercise  upon  each  other  is  a  very  curious  and  intri- 
cate subject,  the  discussion  of  which  does  not  come  within  the 
scope  of  our  present  business;  but,  from  the  facts  now  b  fore 
us,  it  is  obvious  that  this  influenc !  is  governed  by  other  laws 
than  that  of  like  curing  like;  in  other  words,  the  principles  of 
pathology  are  not  identical  with  the  principle  <>t  therapeutics; 
the  laws  which  govern  the  natural  course  of  diseases  are  not 
the  same  as  the  law  which  guides  us  in  the  treatment  of  these 


8  THE   REMEDIES   OF   HOMOEOPATHY. 

diseases  by  remedies.  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  action  of 
diseases  upon  each  other  can  not  be  included  within  the  limits 
of  the  law  of  Homoeopathy. 


II.   THE  HOMOEOPATHIC  ACTION"   OF  MENTAL  EMOTIONS. 

It  would  seem  that  man  is  a  triune  being,  composed  of  a 
body,  an  animal  life,  and  a  spirit.  His  body,  the  materials  of 
which  are  derived  from  the  earth  upon  which  he  treads,  is  an 
exquisite  piece  of  machinery,  "fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made."  The  animal  life,  or  vital  principle,  is  the  life  which 
he  has  in  common  with  the  lower  animals.  His  spirit  is  an 
immaterial  and  immortal  essence,  intelligent  and  moral,  the 
presiding  powers  of  which  are  reason  and  conscience.  The 
vital  principle  and  the  intelligent  spirit  are  "the  lives,"  which, 
in  the  beginning,  were  "breathed"  by  the  Great  CREATOR 
into  the  prepared  body.  The  triple  union  is  man.  Since  man's 
moral  fall  all  three  are  subject  to  derangement;  the  body  and 
the  vital  principle  are  appointed  to  death.  The  derangements 
of  the  one  act  upon  the  other  two.  The  diseases  of  the  body 
act  through  the  vital  principles  upon  the  mind ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  disorders  of  the  mind  act  through  the  same 
medium  upon  the  body.  These  are  the  only  instances  we  are 
cognisant  of  in  which  matter  and  spirit  meet  and  act  upon 
each  other :  in  all  other  cases,  so  far  as  we  know,  matter  acts 
only  upon  matter,  and  spirit  upon  spirit. 

The  question  arises,  According  to  what  laws  do  the  mental 
emotions  of  one  individual  operate  upon  those  of  another  ? 

"Mourning  and  sorrow,"  says  Hahnemann,  "will  be  effaced 
from  the  mind  by  the  account  of  another  and  still  greater  cause 
for  sorrow  happening  to  another,  even  though  it  be  a  mere 
fiction  "  In  other  words,  Hahnemann  thinks  that  the  law  of 
Homoeopathy,  similia  similibus  curaniur,  applies  to  the  action 
of  the  mental  emotions  of  the  physician  or  friend  upon  the 
mind  of  the  paiient,  as  it  does  to  the  action 'of  material  poisons 
upon  his  body.  1  think  it  does  not,  and  for  the  following  rea- 
sons : 

First.  There  is  no  analogy  to  render  it  probable  that  the 
law  of  Homoeopathy  applies  to  mental  emotions.  The  laws 
regulating  spiritual  phenomena,  so  far  as  we  are  yet  acquainted 
with  them,  are  not  identical  with  the  laws  which  govern  mat- 
ter and  its  movements.  Is  there  any  perceptible  connection 
between  the  operations  of  mind  and  the  laws  of  gravity,  chemi- 
cal affinity,  electrical  attraction  and  repulsion,  etc.,  which  re- 


THE   REMEDIES  OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  9 

gulate  the  operations  of  matter  ?  Can  we,  in  fact,  point  out 
any  two  things  more  different  ? 

Secondly.  The  effects  produced  by  the  emotions  of  one 
mind  upon  those  of  another,  in  a  healthy  state,  do  not  in  any 
way  resemble  the  injurious  effects  of  poisons  upon  the  body. 
They  do  not,  by  their  own  nature,  engender  disorders,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  the  natural  action  of  one  mind  upon  another  is  of 
a  beneficial  and  happy  tendency ;  otherwise  social  existence 
would  be  an  unmixed  evil.  According  to  the  homceopathic 
law,  poisons  are  to  be  "  proved"  upon  the  healthy  body,  in 
order  to  learn  the  symptoms  they  are  capable  of  producing, 
which  symptoms  are  the  guide  for  their  use  as  remedies  in  na- 
tural disease.  Can  there  be  any  thing  like  this  undertaken 
with  mental  emotion  ?  Should  any  one  suggest  that  disordered 
emotions,  such  as  anger,  for  example,  produce  similar  disor- 
ders in  other  minds,  I  think  they  will  scarcely  have  the  hardi- 
hood to  assert  that  such  disordered  conditions  in  one  mind  act 
homceopathically  as  remedies  for  similar  disorders  in  other 
minds. 

Thirdly.  The  experience  of  all  ages  down  to  the  present 
time  has  recommended  an  opposite  mode  of  treatment  for  the 
disorders  of  the  mind.  Seneca  prescribes  for  those  in  sorrow, 
"  Precipue  vitentur  tristes,  et  omnes  dephrantes"  Sorrowful 
companions  and  all  mourners  are  specially  to  be  avoided.  And 
he  adds  the  following  strong  remark:  "  Si  quis  insaniam  ab 
insanid  sic  curari  cestimat,  magis  quam  anger  insanity  If  any 
one  thinks  to  cure  insanity  by  insanity,  he  is  more  insane  than 
the  patient.  A  sacred  writer  observes  :  "A  merry  heart  maketh 
a  cheerful  countenance,  and  doeth  good  like  a  medicine."  Gen- 
uine sympathy,  with  cheerful  kindness,  will  do  all  the  good 
that  one  mind  can  clo  to  another. 

Fourthly.  Hahnemann  has  not  pointed  out  the  failure  of  the 
universal  practice  in  this  matter,  nor  the  fallacy  of  its  princi- 
ple ;  nor  shown  that  experience  down  to  the  present  time  is  un- 
satisfactory ;  neither  has  he  adduced  proofs  in  support  of  his 
new  view  of  the  subject.  He  gives  the  example  already  quot- 
ed :  "  Mourning  and  sorrow  will  be  effaced  from  the  mind  by 
the  account  of  another  and  a  still  greater  cause  for  Borrow 
happening  to  another."  But  this  does  not  j  >n  >ve  his  ]  >oint,  for  it 
is  not  a  fact.  The  attention  of  the  mind  may  be  dm  tied  for  a 
time  from  its  own  sorrow  by  the  recital  of  another's  grief;  but 
his  own  sorrow  will  not  be  effaced  thereby;  it  will  remain  as 
before,  and  his  mind  will  soon  revert  to  it. 

It  may  be  said :  Well,  but  you  have  yourself  quoted  a  pas- 
sage from  Shakspeahe  in  which  the  principle  of  Homoeopathy 


10  THE   REMEDIES  OF  HOMCEOPATHY. 

is  illustrated  in  a  moral  affection.     The  quotation  in  No.  1  is 

this: 

"  Iu  poison  there  is  physic  ;  and  these  news, 
Having  been  well,  that  would  have  made  me  sick, 
Bein^  sick,  have  in  some  measure  made  me  well." 

The  Homoeopathy  in  this  passage  is  contained  in  the  first  sen- 
tence: "  In  poison  there  is  physic,"  which  had  been  still  better 
expressed  long  before  in  the  Eastern  proverb  :  "  Poison  is  the 
remedy  for  poison."*  The  moral  effect  of  the  news  upon  his 
mind,  while  suffering  from  disease,  was  to  rouse  him,  to  cause 
him  for  the  time  to  forget  his  ailment,  and  so,  as  Shakspeare 
truthfully  remarks,  "  in  some  measure"  to  make  him  well.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  instances  are  not  parallel  ones.  In 
Hahnemann's,  the  sorrow  of  one  mind  is  supposed  to  be  ef- 
faced by  the  tale  of  another's  greater  sorrow.  In  Shakspeare's, 
bodily  disease  is  supposed  to  be  in  a  measure  cured  by  painful 
news.  The  latter  is  much  more  likely  to  be  sometimes  real- 
ised than  the  former ;  though  the  ordinary  effect  of  afflictive 
tidings  upon  bodily  suffering  is  to  increase  it. 

The  careful  consideration  of  these  reasons  leads  distinctly  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  laws  of  the  science  of  metaphysics  and 
those  of  therapeutics  are  not  identical  —  that  the  influence 
which  one  mind  exerts  over  another  is  governed  by  other 
principles  than  that  of  like  curing  like ;  it  is  plain,  therefore, 
that  the  action  of  mind  upon  mind  can  not  be  included  within 
the  limits  of  the  law  of  Homoeopathy. 


III.  THE  HOMOEOPATHIC  ACTION  OF  PHYSICAL  AGENTS. 

The  material  world  is  a  wonderful  exhibition  of  the  divine 
power.  The  solid  earth,  the  ever  restless  ocean,  the  majestic 
mountains,  the  beautiful  valley,  the  boundless  plain,  the  glid- 
ing river,  the  noble  forest,  the  lovely  flower,  the  moving  crea- 
ture in  every  part,  and  over  all,  the  uplifted  countenance  of 
man.  All  these  are  palpable  and  ponderable  matter :  but  be- 
sides these  there  is  the  genial  warmth,  the  glorious  sunshine, 
the  vivid  flash,  the  rolling  thunder,  which  constitute  as  it  were 
the  confines  of  the  material  creation,  to  which  we  must  now 
return,  after  a  brief  visit  to  the  region  of  mind  and  immaterial 
spirit. 

In  a  former  Tract,  (No.  4,)  I  have  shown  the  probability 
that  the  space  occupied  by  the  universe  is  filled  with  matter — 

*  See  the  Fourth  Edition  of  Tract  No.  1. 


THE   REMEDIES   OF   HOMCEOPATHY.  11 

inconceivably  attenuated,  it  is  true,  but  still  material.  Upon 
this  subtle  form  of  matter  various  motions  are  impressed,  pro- 
ducing the  phenomena  which  we  call  heat,  light,  electricity, 
and  magnetism.  Each  of  these  it  is  now  needful  to  investigate, 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  subject  of  Homoeopathy. 

Heat. —  It  is  probable  that  all  the  so-called  imponderable 
agents  are  peculiar  motiq/is  of  the  infinitesimal  particles  of  mat- 
ter, and  perhaps  each  of  these  motions  exists  in  two  different 
forms — the  vibratory  and  the  undulatory.  For  example,  heat 
resident  in  a  body  may  be  called  vibratory,  and  when  passing 
from  one  body  to  another,  undulatory.  Heat  in  this  latter 
form,  often  called  radiant  heat,  produces  upon  the  living  body 
certain  peculiar  sensations  which  we  call  hot,  warm,  or  cold. 
These  sensations  can  be  produced  by  degrees  of  heat  within 
certain  narrow  limits  only.  When  these  limits  are  exceeded, 
heat  causes  the  death  and  destruction  of  the  organized  animal 
structure.  If  in  excess,  we  say  the  part  has  been  burned  ;  if 
in  deficiency,  we  say  it  has  been  frozen.  All  sudden  transi- 
tions from  one  degree  of  temperature  or  heat  to  another  are  in- 
jurious to  living  bodies ;  if,  therefore,  any  part  of  the  body 
has  been  exposed  to  too  great  a  heat,  the  method  to  be  pursued, 
in  order  to  suffer  as  little  as  possible  from  this  exposure,  is  a 
gradual  return  to  a  more  appropriate  temperature ;  and  the 
same  holds  good  if  any  part  has  suffered  from  deficiency  of 
heat.  Thus  a  burned  hand  may  be  gradually  cooled  by  being 
slowly  withdrawn  from  the  fire,  while  a  frozen  limb  may,  in 
like  manner,  be  gradually  warmed  by  being  rubbed  with 
snow. 

This  explanation  seems  sufficiently  obvious  and  satisfactory ; 
we  can  not  but  demur,  therefore,  when  these  facts  are  adduced 
as  instances  of  Homoeopathic  action,  as  they  are  in  the  follow- 
ing sentences  of  the  Organon. 

"  In  recent  cases  of  frost-bitten  limbs,  frozen  sour-krout  is 
applied,  or  frictions  of  snow  are  used.  The  experienced  cook 
holds  his  hand,  which  he  has  scalded,  at  a  certain  distance 
from  the  fire,  and  does  not  heed  the  increase  of  pain  that 
takes  place  at  first,  as  he  knows  from  experience  that  he  can 
thereby,  in  a  very  short  time,  often  in  a  few  minutes,  convert 
the  burned  part  into  healthy,  painless  skin."* 

These  are  not  instances  of  "  like  curing  like."  The  agent 
which  causes  the  mischief,  and  which  cures  it  is  the  same — it  is 
heat  in  different  degrees;  if,  therefore,  the  action  is  at  all  specific 
it  is  Isopathy — the  same  curing  the  same — not  Homoeopathy 

*  Organon,  Introduction,  page  100. 


12  THE   REMEDIES   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

— like  curing  like  ;  but  in  truth,  it  is  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other.  The  explanation  has  been  already  given,  and  it  is  plain 
that  the  action  of  heat  upon  the  living  body  can  not  be  includ- 
ed within  the  limits  of  the  law  of  Homoeopathy. 

Light. — This  beneficent  and  beauteous  endowment  of  mat- 
ter pervades,  with  astonishing  rapidity,  the  vast  expanses  of 
the  universe.  A  cannon  ball  would  take  a  year  to  pass  through 
the  distance  which  light  traverses  in  a  second.  Such  is  the 
velocity  of  this  undulatory  movement.  Its  other  properties 
are  equally  remarkable :  witness  the  brilliant  colors  produced 
by  its  refraction  and  reflection  in  the  rainbow ;  and,  above  all, 
the  power  which  it  possesses  of  so  acting  upon  the  eyes  of  liv- 
ing creatures  as  to  enable  them  to  see  surrounding  and  even 
distant  objects.  So  far  as  we  know,  light  does  not  affect  any 
other  part  of  our  body,  while  that  is  in  its  natural  condition ; 
it  produces  no  action  upon  the  sentient  nerves  of  the  skin,  nor 
upon  the  organs  of  the  other  senses.  Yarious  degrees  of  light, 
within  certain  limits,  (mentioned  in  Tract  No.  4,)  produce  an 
impression  upon  the  eye.  As  might  be  expected,  a  greater 
degree  overpowers  the  impression  caused  by  a  smaller  degree ; 
hence  the  stars  are  not  seen  by  day.  The  light  of  the  stars 
has  much  less  power  to  affect  our  eye  than  the  light  of  the 
sun;  it  therefore  can  not  be  perceived  while  the  latter  is  above 
the  horizon.  If  the  sun's  light  be  excluded,  which  may  be 
done  by  descending  into  a  deep  well,  or  by  looking  through  a 
powerful  telescope,  then  the  stars  become  visible  at  noon-day. 
Thus  the  perceptible  impressions  produced  upon  the  eye  are 
dependent  upon  the  various  degrees  of  light  which  reach  the 
organ,  the  more  powerful  preventing  the  perception  of  the 
weaker. 

Let  us  now  hear  what  Hahnemann  says  upon  this  subject. 
To  the  paragraph  announcing  the  "homoeopathic  law  of  na- 
ture" is  appended  the  following  note :  "  Thus  are  cured  both 
physical  affections  and  moral  maladies.  How  is  it  that  in  the 
early  dawn  the  brilliant  Jupiter  vanishes  from  the  gaze  of  the 
beholder?  By  a  stronger  very  similar  power  acting  on  his 
optic  nerve,  the  brightness  of  approaching  day  ["*  And  this, 
according  to  Hahnemann,  is  an  instance  of  homoeopathic 
cure! 

It  is  difficult  to  refrain,  here,  from  some  reflections  on  the 
want  of  the  power  of  discriminating  evinced  by  our  medical 
reformer.  It  is  true  he  laid  hold  upon  a  fact  when  he  discov- 
ered the  homoeopathic  action  of  drugs,  but  how  indistinctly 

*  Organoa,  §  xxvi 


THE   REMEDIES   OF   HOMEOPATHY.  13 

must  he  have  viewed  that  fact,  and  how  visionary  are  his 
speculations  respecting  it ! 

It  is  difficult  to  trace  the  remotest  analogy  between  the  fact 
that  a  poison  produces  a  disease,  and  cures  another  like  it,  and 
the  effect  of  different  degrees  of  light  upon  the  eye.  The  light 
of  Jupiter  produces  no  disease  for  the  light  of  the  sun  to  cure ; 
again,  if  the  eye  has  been  injured  by  too  much  light  it  is  not 
restored  to  health  by  a  still  stronger  degree  of  light;  and 
again,  if  it  were,  it  would  not  be  by  a  similarity  of  agents,  but 
by  the  same  agent,  acting  in  a  more  or  less  powerful  manner ; 
the  light  of  the  "  brilliant"  Jupiter  is  but  the  reflected  light  of 
the  sun. 

This  deficiency  in  the  power  of  discrimination  in  the  mind 
of  Hahnemann  becomes,  if  possible,  still  more  conspicuous 
in  the  sentences  immediately  following  the  one  last  quoted. 
"  In  situations  replete  with  fetid  odors,  wherewith  is  it  usual 
to  soothe  effectually  the  offended  olfactory  nerves?  With 
snuff,  that  affects  the  sense  of  smell  in  a  similar,  but  stronger 
manner !  How  does  the  warrior  cunningly  banish  the  piteous 
cries  of  him  who  runs  the  gauntlet  from  the  ears  of  the  com- 
passionate by-standers  ?  By  the  shrill  notes  of  the  fife,  com- 
mingled with  the  roll  of  the  noisy  drum !  And  the  distant  roar 
of  the  enemy's  cannon,  that  inspires  his  army  with  fear  ?  By 
the  mimic  thunder  of  the  big  drum !" 

Such  observations  as  these  surely  require  no  refutation. 
They  are  entirely  inapplicable  as  illustrations  of  Homoeopathy. 
Some  writers  on  Homoeopathy  admit  that  Hahnemann's 
illustrations  are  "unhappy,"  and  with  that  admission  they  let 
the  matter  drop.  But  why  are  they  unhappy  ?  Simply  because 
they  are  untrue.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  there  is  nothing 
of  the  nature  of  homoeopathic  action  in  these  examples ;  and 
it  is  plain  that  the  motions  producing  light,  and  also  those 
producing  sound,  can  not  be  included  within  the  limits  of  the 
law  of  Homoeopathy. 

Electricity. — The  attractive  power  of  amber,  called  bv  the 
Greeks  eXeKrpov,  an  almost  solitary  fact  known  to  the  ancients, 
has  given  a  name  to  a  property  which  is  now  ascertained  to 
belong  to  all  bodies.  The  remarkable  phenomena  and  the  ex- 
tensive relations  of  this  property  or  force  have  been  successfully 
investigated  only  within  the  present  century,  and  even  at  the 
present  day,  though  a  vast  number  of  facts  have  been  observed, 
the  subject  is  still  shrouded  in  much  mystery.  In  reference 
to  animal  life  and  its  bearing  upon  the  subject  before  us,  I  may 
remark  that  the  relations  which  exist  between  the  electrical 
force  and  the  nervous  influence  are  of  the  most  intimate,  but  at 


14  THE  REMEDIES   OF  HOMOEOPATHY. 

the  same  time  of  the  most  subtle  character.  They  have  occupied 
the  close  attention  of  natural  philosophers  for  some  time,  but 
as  yet  few  data  have  been  well  established.  The  shock  which 
the  torpedo  can  communicate  was  known  to  the  ancients. 
That  this  shock  was  electrical  was  discovered  by  Mr.  Walsh, 
and  communicated  through  Dr.  Franklin  to  the  Eoyal  Soci- 
ety in  1772.  The  animal  was  sent  by  Mr.  Walsh  to  John 
Hunter  for  examination,  and  its  electrical  organs  are  described 
by  the  latter  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  of  the  following 
year.  The  next  discovery  was  Galvani's,  in  1789,  that  the 
electricity  excited  by  the  contact  of  two  metals  can  produce 
muscular  contractions ;  our  knowledge  was  further  advanced 
by  Baron  Humboldt,  by  his  examination  of  the  Gymnotus 
Electricus,  the  electric  eel  of  South  America,  a  very  interesting 
account  of  which  is  contained  in  his  "  Kecueil  d?  observations 
de  Zoologie  et  d'  Anatomie  comparee,"  1811.  Of  late  the 
subject  has  been  pursued,  especially  by  Professor  Matteucci, 
who  in  his  "  Traite  des  Phenomenes  Electro-Physiologiques 
des  Animaux,"  and  in  a  series  of  Memoirs  communicated  to 
the  Eoyal  Society,  and  published  in  the  Philosophical  Trans- 
actions for  the  years  1845,  1846,  1847,  and  1850,  has  des- 
cribed an  immense  number  of  most  delicate  and  accurate  ex- 
periments. 

It  will  be  sufficient  to  allude  to  one  or  two  conclusions  re- 
sulting from  these  experiments,  to  show  that  the  mode  of  action 
of  electricity  upon  the  living  nervous  system  is  very  complicated 
and  peculiar ;  and  that  our  knowledge  of  it  is  quite  inadequate 
to  enable  us  to  prove  it  to  be  within  the  limits  of  the  law  of 
similia  simihbus  curantur. 

In  Matteucci's  fourth  Memoir,  published  in  1846,  his  ob- 
ject is  to  prove  that  the  electric  current  transmitted  along  a 
nerve  modifies  the  excitability  of  the  nerve  in  a  manner  differ- 
ing widely  according  to  the  direction  of  the  current.  Thus, 
the  direct  current  rapidly  exhausts  this  excitability,  while  the 
inverse  current  increases  it. 

In  1847,  Matteucci  ascertained  that  if  an  animal  is  ether- 
ized, and  the  direct  current  is  passed  along  one  sciatic  nerve, 
and  the  inverse  along  the  other,  contraction  of  the  muscles 
takes  place  with  the  direct  current,  only  on  interrupting  the  cur- 
rent; while  with  the  inverse  current  contraction  appears  only 
on  closing  it.  But  these  are  the  phenomena  with  the  anterior 
roots  of  the  nerves,  or  nerves  of  sensation  only ;  if  these  be  cut, 
the  effects  are  instantly  reversed,  contraction  with  the  direct 
current  takes  place  on  closing,  and  that  with  the  inverse  on 
opening  or  interrupting  the  circuit. 


THE  REMEDIES   OF  HOMCEOPATHY.  15 

These  experiments  are  sufficient  to  make  it  evident  that  the 
effects  produced  by  the  application  of  an  electrical  current  to 
the  living  body  are  of  an  intricate  and  refined  nature,  and  that 
we  are  extremely  ignorant  with  regard  to  their  details.  To 
ascribe  any  curative  influence  therefore  which  may  have  hap- 
pened to  follow  from  the  use  of  electricity  to  the  law  of  Ho- 
moeopathy is  a  premature  and  unwarrantable  conclusion.  In 
fact,  the  application  of  electricity  as  a  remedial  agent,  with  our 
present  ignorance  of  the  effects  it  may  produce,  resembles  far 
more  the  rude  proceedings  of  Allopathy,  than  doings  which 
profess  to  be  regulated  by  a  law  of  healing. 

Experiments  of  this  kind  have  been  related:  an  electric 
shock  communicated  to  the  head  of  a  rabbit  deprives  the  ani- 
mal of  sense  and  motion — produces  paralysis ;  a  second  shock 
restores  consciousness  and  voluntary  motion — removes  paraly- 
sis ;  and  these  alternate  effects  may  be  also  indefinitely  pro- 
duced by  successive  discharges  of  electricity.  But  whatever 
this  is,  it  is  not  Homoeopathy ;  it  is  not  like  curing  like. 

I  have,  formerly,  made  use  of  the  electric  aura  (a  current 
from  a  wooden  point)  in  opacity  of  the  cornea  with  some  ad- 
vantage ;  I  have  seen  it,  when  applied  by  a  small  galvanic 
battery,  relieve  anomalous  neuralgic  pain ;  I  have  often  tried 
it  in  paralysis,  but  with  very  unsatisfactory  results.  Electricity 
has  again  and  again  been  brought  forward  as  a  remedial  agent, 
and  has  again  and  again  been  laid  aside,  in  consequence  partly 
of  its  frequent  failures,  and  partly  from  our  not  knowing  how 
to  apply  it,  and  how  to  apportion  the  degree  of  intensity  to  the 
nature  of  the  case.  For  it  will  be  observed  that  electricity, 
like  heat  and  light,  acts  beneficially  or  otherwise  simply  in 
proportion  to  its  degree  or  quantity. 

This  last  remark  suggests  another  circumstance  in  which 
these  imponderable  agents  differ  from  drugs ;  a  certain  condi- 
tion or  amount  of  each  is,  every  moment,  essential  to  the  main- 
tenance not  only  of  health,  but  of  life  itself.  A  certain  temper- 
ature, a  certain  amount  of  light,  and  a  certain  condition  of  elec- 
tricity preserve  life  and  health — how  we  know  not ;  while  other 
degrees  or  quantities  of  these  all-pervading  properties  or  affec- 
tions of  matter  may  instantly  destroy  both ;  as  by  a  sun-stroke, 
or  a  flash  of  lightning.  With  all  these,  therefore,  the  effects 
are  dependent  upon  degrees — in  one  degree  they  may  injure, 
in  another  degree  they  may  relieve ;  but  in  none  of  these  cases 
can  the  law  of  like  curing  like  be  fairly  applied.  Their  reg- 
ulated use  belongs  more  to  the  province  of  hygiene  than  that 
of  therapeutics — to  the  affairs  of  clothing,  exercise,  and  diet, 
rather  than  to  medicine. 


16  THE   KEMEDIES   OF   HOMOSOPATHY. 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  phenomena  of  electricity  can 
not,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  be  included  within 
the  limits  of  the  law  of  Homoeopathy. 

Magnetism. — The  attractive  power  of  the  peculiar  native 
oxide  of  iron,  called  loadstone,  and  its  use  in  the  mariner's  com- 
pass, have  been  long  known ;  but  we  are  indebted  to  the  re- 
cent discoveries  of  Fakaday  for  our  knowledge  of  the  fact 
that  magnetism,  like  electricity,  is  a  universal  property  of  mat- 
ter. It  is  true  that  only  a  small  number  of  bodies  have  a  po- 
larity similar  to  that  possessed  by  iron,  and  which  are  called 
magnetics  ;  but  all 'other  bodies  have  a  polarity  acting  at  right 
angles  to  that  of  iron,  and  are  called  diamagnetics.  The  con- 
nection between  electricity  and  magnetism  is  now  known  to  be 
of  the  most  intimate  nature,  as  is  seen  in  the  new  sciences  of 
Electro-magnetism  and  Magneto-electricity.  Close  relations 
are  also  traced  between  these  properties  of  bodies  and  those  of 
heat,  light,  and  chemical  affinity.  But  our  present  business  is 
the  question  :  Has  magnetism  any  connection  with  the  law  of 
Homoeopathy? 

Hahnemann  enumerates  about  nine  hundred  symptoms  as 
occasioned  by  the  touch  of  the  magnet. 

"  Those  symptoms  which  have  no  reference  to  either  pole  in 
particular  have  been  obtained  incidentally  during  the  course 
of  experiments  of  six  months'  duration,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  find  out  the  best  and  most  effective  mode  of  magnetiz- 
ing steel ;  a  magnetic  horse-shoe,  carrying  twelve  pounds,  being 
handled  for  hours  in  succession,  and  both  hands  being  thus  in 
constant  contact  with  either  pole." 

"  Those  symptoms  which  have  reference  to  one  pole  in  par- 
ticular have  been  obtained  by  means  of  a  powerful  magnetic 
bar  being  touched  by  persons  in  good  health,  for  eight  or 
twelve  minutes,  seldom  more  than  once."* 

Now,  without  its  being  necessary  to  assert  that  all,  or  even 
that  many  of  these  symptoms  have  been  erroneously  attributed 
to  the  action  of  the  magnet,  I  can  not  see  that  any  proof  can 
be  gathered  from  them  that  the  magnetic  influence  on  the  liv- 
ing body  is  governed  by  the  law  of  similia  similibus  curantur. 
On  the  contrary,  I  think  there  is  sufficient  evidence  on  the  face 
of  Hahnemann's  own  report  to  justify  me  in  concluding  that 
magnetism  is  not  governed  by  this  law.  The  following  are  my 
reasons  : 

First.  I  have  carefully  studied  the  three  series  of  symptoms, 
namely,  those  supposed  to  be  produced  by  the  magnet  without 

*  Materia  Medica  Para,  translated  by  Hempel,  Vol.  III.,  p.  22. 


THE   REMEDIES  OF  HOMCEOPATHY.  17 

reference  to  either  pole,  those  caused  by  the  north,  and  those 
arising  from  the  south  pole,  and  I  can  not  discover  that  they 
present  any  picture  of  disease  which  can  be  considered  charac- 
teristic; that  is,  so  peculiar  as  to  distinguish  the  effects  of  the 
magnet  from  those  of  other  noxious  agents.  HAHNEMANN  often 
insists, and  with  great  justice,  on  the  fact  that  each  poison  pro- 
duces symptoms  peculiar  to  and  characteristic  of  itself. 

Secondly.  Notwithstanding  Hahnemann's  assertion  that  it 
*•  will  be  seen  from  the  following  symptoms  that  each  of  the 
two  poles  produces  phenomena  in  a  healthy  person  different 
from  that  of  the  other  pole,"  I  must  confess  that  I  can  not  find 
any  difference  sufficiently  striking  or  important  to  prove  that  it 
is  not  accidental.  Hahnemann  does  not  attempt  to  aid  us  in 
our  endeavors  to  distinguish  between  the  effects  of  the  two 
poles  except  in  one  circumstance.  He  says  :  "  The  south  pole 
appears  to  excite  haemorrhage  as  its  primary  effect ;  the  north 
pole  seems  to  act  in  the  contrary  manner.  Now  it  so  happens 
that  under  the  north  pole  he  gives  us  the  following  symptoms : 
"  Bleeding  from  the  left  nostril."  "  Bleeding  of  the  nose  for 
three  quarters  of  an  hour."  "  Yiolent  bleeding  at  the  nose  for 
three  afternoons  in  succession," — while  I  find  nothing  of  the 
kind  among  the  symptoms  supposed  to  be  occasioned  by  the 
south  pole. 

These  reasons  might  appear  to  be  sufficient,  but  I  feel  oblig- 
ed to  remark  further,  that  though,  in  Hahnemann's  works, 
there  is  a  great  appearance  of  the  strict  accuracy  and  precision 
required  in  a  philosophical  writer,  there  is,  in  reality,  a  great 
lack  of  those  qualities.     For — 

Thirdly.  Many  symptoms  are  stated  to  arise  "  from  touch- 
ing the  centre  of  the  bar;"  at  which  part  of  a  magnet,  it  is 
well  known,  that  the  magnetic  influence  is  neutral,  and  that 
no  effects  have  yet  been  elicited  from  it.  Now,  whatever 
might  be  thought  of  these  symptoms,  were  the  effects  of  the 
poles  of  the  magnet  established,  they  certainly  ought  not  to 
have  been  brought  forward  as  proving  any  thing,  so  long  as 
that  the  main  question  remains  undecided. 

Fourthly.  Some  symptoms,  as  "fits  of  fainting,  palpitation 
of  the  heart,  and  suffocation,"  are  put  down  as  having  arisen 
"from  omitting  the  usual  imposition  of  the  magnet."  One  can 
not  but  marvel  that  such  evidence  as  this  should  be  adduced 
to  prove  an  important  and  novel  fact. 

Fifthly.  Hahnemann  himself,  notwithstanding  his  endeavor 
to  lay  down  precise  rules  respecting  the  magnetic  influences 
on  the  body,  is  evidently  confused  in  his  own  mind.  He  says, 
11  the  contact  of  a  pole  seems  to  produce  alternate  effects  analo- 

No.  ix.— 2 


18  THE  REMEDIES   OF  HOMOEOPATHY. 

gous  to  those  of  the  opposite  pole."  "  If  the  symptoms  of  a 
case  correspond  to  the  general  symptoms  of  the  magnet,  with- 
out having  reference  to  any  pole  in  particular,  in  this  case  that 
pole  is  to  be  chosen  which  seems  to  be  more  closely  homoeopa- 
thic to  the  case.  If  the  symptoms  should  then  disappear  sud- 
denly, or  if  new  symptoms  should  be  elicited  of  half  an  hour, 
or  even  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  duration,  this  is  a  sure  sign 
that  the  magnet  has  acted  enanthiopathically,  and  the  other 
homoeopathic  pole  is  to  be  applied  immediately  for  as  long  a 
time  as  the  palliative  had  been."  The  disagreeable  effects  of 
an  anti-homoeopathic  application  of  the  magnet,  which  are 
sometimes  very  considerable,  may  be  palliated  by  small  electric 
sparks  ;  they  can  be  permanently  cured  by  the  flat  hand  being 
imposed  upon  a  large  tin  surface  for  half  an  hour,  etc. 

It  is  obvious  that,  in  this  matter,  Hahnemann  has  entangled 
himself  and  his  students  in  an  inextricable  maze.  It  seems  to 
me  impossible  to  gather  any  directions,  sufficiently  simple  and 
positive  to  be  followed  in  actual  practice,  from  the  five  and 
forty  pages  of  the  Materia  Medica  Pura  occupied  with  magnet- 
ism. I  think  it  is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  magnetic  influence 
on  the  living  body  is  not  included  within  the  limits  of  the  law 
of  Homoeopathy. 

But  this  is  not  all.  It  is  an  admitted  rule  in  Natural  Philo- 
sophy, that  the  results  of  experiments  can  not  be  received  as 
satisfactory  and  true,  unless  they  occur  again  in  the  hands  of 
others  repeating  the  experiments  of  the  original  observer. 
Before  the  conclusions  of  Hahnemann  can  be  adopted,  others 
must  experience  at  least  some  of  the  symptoms  he  has  recorded. 
And  on  the  same  ground,  before  they  can  be  permanently  re- 
jected, the  experiments  must  be  repeated  without  his  results, 
sufficiently  to  make  it  evident  that  he  has  fallen  into  error. 

I  have  tried  in  a  variety  of  ways  to  obtain  some  effects,  or  to 
experience  some  unquestionable  influence  from  magnets,  but  I 
am  constrained  to  say,  without  success.  I  have  tried  them  on 
my  own  person,  and  on  that  of  others.  It  is  true  that,  in  one 
instance,  in  an  individual  of  a  highly  nervous  and  susceptible 
temperament,  I  did  get  some  symptoms,  such  as  rumbling  of 
the  abdomen,  a  feeling  of  faintness,  and  a  speedy  action  of  the 
bowels  ;  but  then,  on  repeating  the  experiment,  with  the  same 
person,  a  few  days  afterwards,  with  a  similar  bar  of  unmagnetized 
steel,  I  got  precisely  the  same  effects ;  clearly  proving  that  the 
results  of  the  previous  trial  were  due  to  the  force  of  imagina- 
tion, and  not  to  that  of  magnetism. 

To  obtain  a  confirmation,  either  of  Hahnemann's  results  or 
of  my  own,  I  have  communicated  with  the  two  individuals  who 


THE   REMEDIES   OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  19 

have  had  more  personal  and  practical  experience  in  the  hand- 
ling of  and  experimenting  with  magnets  than  perhaps  any  others 
in  the  world  ;  and  by  their  kind  permisssion,  I  now  give  their 
replies.     The  first  is  from  my  friend  Dr.  Scoresby. 

"Torquay,  Nov.  7,  1853. 
"  Dear  Dr.  Sharp  :  In  reply  to  your  inquiry  as  to  any  sensible  effects  on 
the  bodily  feeling   or  condition  from  the  handling  of  powerful  magnets,  I 
can  decidedly  state  that  no  such  effects  have  ever  been  experienced  by  me  ; 
at  least  in  such  a  degree  as  to  draw  my  attention  to  ,uuch  circumstance. 

"  I  have  felt  no  sensible  effect  either  from  the  magnetizing  of  bars  of  steel, 
or  handling  the  most  powerful  magnets,  or  working  with  a  powerful  magnetic 
apparatus  for  hours  together.  My  largest  magnet,  comprising  five  hundred 
feet  of  steel  bars,  one  and  a  half  inch  broad  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick, 
and  capable  of  sustaining  four  hundred  pounds  weight,  (though  not  well 
adapted  for  lifting  purposes,)  produces  no  sensible  effect  on  the  feelings. 
"  I  am,  dear  Dr.  Sharp,  yours  very  faithfully, 

"  W.  Scoresby." 

The  second  letter  is  from  Professor  Faraday,  to  whom  I  have 
often  been  indebted  for  kind  communications,  and  who  on  this, 
as  on  all  former  occasions,  promptly  furnished  me  with  the  in- 
formation I  sought. 

"Royal  Institution,  19  Dec,  1853. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  have  often  experimented  on  the  subject,  and  my  results 
are  all  negative.  Having  an  electro-magnet  which  could  have  the  magnetic 
power  developed  and  suppressed  at  pleasure,  and  which  when  excited,  would 
sustain  some  tons  weight,  I  have  submitted  the  most  delicate  parts  of  my 
own  organization  to  it  without  being  conscious  of  the  least  influence.  I 
have  placed  the  ball  of  the  eye  close  up  to  a  pole,  either  one  or  the  other, 
and  then  put  the  power  on  and  off,  quickly  and  slowly,  but  without  the 
slightest  consciousness  of  the  least  change  in  any  function  of  the  eye  or  the 
parts  about  it.  I  have  repeated  the  experiment  with  the  nostrils ;  the 
tongue  ;  the  ear  ;  with  a  wound  ;  with  a  fresh  cut ;  but  no  effects  have  been 
produced. 

"  Mr.  Warren  de  la  Rue  constructed  .a  beautiful  electro-magnet  with 
pointed  poles,  so  arranged  that  they  could  be  brought  very  near  each  other  ; 
animalcules  of  various  kinds  were  placed  between  them,  and  then  observed 
with  a  microscope.  I  predicted  from  my  own  experiments  that  nothing 
would  occur  of  an  extra  character  ;  and  >uch  was  the  result.  The  creatures 
showed  no  difference  whether  the  power  was  on  or  off,  or  passing  on  or  off; 
the  motions  and  appearances  of  the  Cilia,  and  other  parts  of  the  little  animals, 
remained  constantly  the  same. 

"  I  have  worn  a  magnet  about  my  person  for  some  time,  without  the 
least  indication  of  any  effect ;  and  when  I  have  worked  for  hours  together,  and 
day  after  day,  with  powerful  magnets,  and  amongst  them  that  before  referred 
to,  I  have  not  been  conscious  of  any  influence. 

"  I  believe  that  as  yet,  we  have  not  the  slightest  real  evidence  of  the  influ- 
ence of  a  magnet,  (acting  only  as  a  magnet,)  upon  an  animal  of  the  highest  or 
of  the  lowest  organization,  or  upon  any  plant,  as  a  living  object.  Consider- 
ed as  inert  matter,  they  are  all  subject  to  the  power,  for  I  have  found  a  liv- 
ing or  a  dead  mouse  to  be  equally  diamagnetic. 

"  Ever,  my  dear  sir,  very  truly  yours,  M.  Faraday." 


20  THE   REMEDIES   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

I  leave  my  readers  to  draw  their  own  conclusions  from  the 
evidence  before  them.  It  appears  to  me  tliat  this  preponder- 
ates greatly  against  any  effects  whatever  being  produced  by  mag- 
netism upon  the  living  body  in  its  ordinary  condition ;  but 
even  if  it  should  hereafter  be  established  that  effects  are  some- 
times produced,  I  believe  these  effects  will  be  found,  on  careful 
investigation,  to  be  entirely  ungoverned  by  the  law  of  Homoeo- 
pathy. 

For  myself,  I  can  not  but  conclude  that  Hahnemann  is  quite 
in  error,  when  he  supposes  that  the  homoeopathic  law  can,  with 
any  show  of  propriety,  be  applied  to  the  action  of  the  physical 
influence  of  any  of  the  so-called  imponderable  agents.  The 
only  analogy  which  I  can  discover  is  that  of  polarity.  We 
know  that  like  electricities,  and  like  poles  of  a  magnet  repel 
each  other,  similia  similibus  repelluntur ;  beyond  this  faint  re- 
semblance I  can,  as  yet,  trace  no  connection. 


IV.  THE  HOMOEOPATHIC  ACTION  OF  DRUGS. 

It  has  been  more  or  less  generally  acknowledged  from  time 
immemorial,  that,  "poison  is  the  remedy  for  poison."  I  have 
advanced  some  very  plain  proofs  in  a  former  number  of  these 
Tracts,  (No.  3.)  that  this  "  Homoeopathy  in  the  general "  is  also 
true,  when  we  descend  into  particulars.  A  careful  review  of 
the  examples  given  in  that  pamphlet,  will  render  it  impossible 
for  any  intelligent  and  unprejudiced  person  to  deny,  that  a  re- 
lation exists  in  nature  between  the  effects  of  material  poisons  on 
the  healthy  frame,  and  the  effects  of  the  same  poisons  on  dis- 
eases resembling  those  which  they  are  capable  of  producing. 
This  relation  is  expressed  by  the  word  Homoeopathy — like 
curing  like. 

Hahnemann's  formal  definition  of  this  law  of  Homoeopathy 
in  the  Organon  is  as  follows  : 

"A  weaker  dynamic  affection  is  permanently  extinguished 
in  the  living  organism  by  a  stronger  one,  if  the  latter  (whilst 
differing  in  kind)  is  similar  to  the  former  in  its  manifesta- 
tions. 

This  paragraph,  instead  of  announcing  a  natural  fact  which 
he  had  discovered,  states  a  fiction  which  he  had  imagined.  He 
gives  us  no  sufficient  evidence  to  prove  that  the  artificial  dis- 
ease induced  by  the  remedy  is  a  stronger  one  than  the  previous- 
ly existing  natural  disease.  Analogy  does  not  make  it  proba- 
ble that  this  should  be  the  case,  especially  with  an  infinitesimal 
dose  of  the  remedy ;  and  if  it  were  so,  it  would  be  still  less 


THE  REMEDIES   OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  21 

probable  that  such  a  mode  of  proceeding  could  restore  any  one 
to  health. 

I  am  constrained  therefore  to  reject  this  definition,  and  ven- 
ture to  propose  the  following  as  a  substitute : 

Every  mat  rial  poison  gaining  admission  into  the  healthy  body, 
has  a  tendency  to  produce  a  diseased  condition,  evidenced  by  symp- 
toms or  physical  signs,  more  or  Lss  peculiar  to  itself;  and  every 
such  poison  is  the  most  appropriate  remedy  for  a  similar  diseased 
condition  which  has  arisen  from  other  causes. 

From  this  definition  it  appears  that,  in  the  present  state  of 
our  knowledge,  this  law  of  similia  similibus  curantur  is  an  ulti- 
mate fact.  We  are  ignorant  of  its  cause,  and  also  of  its  connec- 
tion or  correlation  with  other  natural  foots ;  it  can  therefore  be 
used  only  as  an  empirical  guide.  But  when  it  is  remembered 
that  before  we  became  acquainted  with  this  fact  we  had  no 
guide,  and  that  this  is  an  intelligible  and  plain  one,  it  will 
be  seen  that  it  must  prove  a  great  gain  to  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine. And  when  it  is  further  remembered  that  the  most  ad- 
vanced sciences,  as  astronomy  and  chemistry  are  in  the  same 
manner  based  upon  ultimate  facts,  the  causes  of  which  are 
equally  unknown,  we  need  not  Avonder,  neither  need  we  to  be 
distressed,  if  in  medicine  also  we  find  ourselves  compelled  to 
work  by  a  rule,  the  construction  of  which  is  hidden  from  our 
view. 

From  the  evidence  adduced  on  a  former  occasion,  (Tract 
No.  3,)  it  is  plain  that  the  action  of  material  poisons,  or  as  they 
are  commonly  called  drugs,  is  included  within  the  limits  of  the  law 
of  Homoeopathy  ;  and  from  the  evidence  brought  forward  in  this 
Tract,  it  is  also  plain  that  as  yet,  we  know  of  no  other  actions 
which  are  included  within  it.  Thus  the  question  proposed,  what 
are  the  limits  within  which  the  law  of  Homoeopathy  is  applica- 
ble to  remedies,  has  now  'been  answered.  It  is  applicable  to 
drugs,  but  to  nothing  else. 

Goethe,  himself  a  German,  observes  that  "the  Germans 
have  the  gift  of  rendering  the  sciences  inaccessible  ;  certainly 
Hahnemann  possessed  the  art  of  making  Homoeopathy  una> 
ceptable.  In  this  way  among  others,  by  attempting  to  make 
an  indiscriminate  application  of  the  law  of  similia  similibus  cur- 
antur to  the  action  of  diseases  ;  of  mental  emotions;  of  physi- 
cal agents;  and  of  material  poisons.  Thus  regarding  it  as  a 
foundation  of  Pathology,  ofMoral  Philosophy  and  of  Dynami- 
cal  Science,  as  well  as  of  Therapeutics;  a  proceeding  as  unphi- 
losophkal  ns  if  Newton  had  attempted  to  make  the  law  of 
gravitation  the  basis  of  chemistry,  physiology  and  metaphysics, 
as  well  as  of  astronomy. 


22  THE   REMEDIES  OF  HOMOEOPATHY. 


Kugby,   J9es.   26M,   1853. 


terts  on  gotMoptlju.-'go.  10. 


THE    PEOVINGS 


OP 


HOMOEOPATHY 


BY    WILLIAM    SHARP,    M.D.,    F.R.S. 


ixtty   (ftbiiion, 


BOEKICKE    &  TAFEL: 

NEW  YORK,  PHILABELPIIIA, 

No.  145  GRAND  STREET.  No.  1011  ARCH  STREET. 


'A  very  little  Truth  will  sometimes  enlighten  a  vast  extent  of  science." 

Eeattie. 


THE  PROVINGS  OF  HOMEOPATHY. 


"  But  yet  these  truths  being  never  so  certain,  never  so  clear,  he  may  be  ignor- 
ant of  either,  or  all  of  them,  who  will  never  take  the  pains  to  employ  his  faculties 
as  he  should,  to  inform  himself  about  them."  Locke. 


If  drugs  are  remedies  for  disease,  it  is  obvious  that  some  means 
must  be  used  to  discover  their  various  properties ;  in  other 
words,  to  learn  the  effects  they  are  severally  capable  of  pro- 
ducing upon  the  human  body.     Let  us  inquire : 

I.  What  have  been  the  means  hitherto  adopted  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  the  result  ? 

II.  What  new  method  has  been  suggested,  and  agreed  to  ? 

III.  How  far  this  new  method  has  been  carried  out  ? 

I.  What  have  been  the  means  hitherto  adopted  to  ascertain 
the  curative  powers  of  drugs,  and  what  has  been  the  result  ? 

The  means  hitherto  adopted  have  been  the  trial  of  them  in 
every  variety  of  disease.  Through  preceding  ages,  both  medical 
men  and  patients  have  been  eager  to  experiment  in  this  man- 
ner, upon  the  large  number  of  poisonous  substances  of  which 
the  Materia  Medica  consists. 

And  what  has  been  the  result  ?  If  I  undertake  a  description 
of  the  past  and  present  condition  of  the  Materia  Medica,  and 
of  the  results  of  the  trials  or  experiments  made  to  discover 
their  powers  of  healing,  in  my  own  words,  I  may  be  suspected 
of  misrepresenting  the  truth ;  I  shall,  therefore,  give  it  in  the 
words  of  those  writers  who  are  most  eminent  or  best  known 
in  the  profession. 

I  have  already  given  (in  No.  6)  an  epitome  of  the  practice 
of  medicine  in  the  words  of  Cull-en,  the  most  distinguished 


4  THE   PROVINGS   OF   HOHOZOPATHY. 

in  a  striking  manner,  the  doubts  and  the  confusion,  the  con- 
*  physician  of  this  conn  try  of  the  last  age,  in  which  he  exhibits, 
tradictions  and  the  differences  of  the  successive  teachers  and 
practitioners  of  the  healing  art. 

Pinel,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  writers  of  the  continent 
of  the  same  period,  expresses  himself  on  this  subject  as  fol- 
lows : 

"La  matiere  medicale  n'a  ete  en  general  qu'un  entassement 
confus  de  substances  incoherentes,  et  le  plus  souvent  duoces 
d'une  efhcacite  precaire;  et  rien,  peut-etre,  n'est  plus  fonde 
que  le  reproche  qu'on  lui  a  fait  de  n'offrir  qu'un  assemblage 
informe  d'idees  inexactes,  et  d'observations  pucriles  ou  du 
moyens  illusoires."* 

"  The  Materia  Medica  has  been  nothing  but  a  confused  heap 
of  incongruous  substances,  possessing,  for  the  most  part,  a 
doubtful  efficacy;  and  nothing,  perhaps,  is  more  just  than  the 
reproach  which  has  been  attached  to  it,  that  it  presents  only  a 
shapeless  assemblage  of  incoherent  ideas,  and  of  puerile  or  at 
least  of  illusory  observations." 

It  is  true  he  goes  on  to  express  a  hope  that  modern  Chemis- 
try will  dissipate  this  sad  confusion,  but  experience  has  disap- 
pointed this  hope.  No  science  can  operate  effectually,  except 
within  its  own  limits,  and  the  science  of  healing  is  not  and 
can  not  be  made  a  chapter  in  Chemistry. 

But  it  may  be  said  Cullen  and  Pinel  were  of  a  former 
age ;  I  will,  therefore,  avail  myself  of  the  pen  of  the  present 
living  official  head  of  our  profession  in  this  country,  and  in 
the  words  of  Dr.  Paris,  the  President  of  the  Poyal  College 
of  Physicians,  give  some  account  of  the  substances  hitherto 
used  as  medicines,  the  mode  by  which  a  knowledge  of  their 
properties  has  been  acquired,  and  the  estimate  made  of  their 
value  by  the  physicians  of  succeeding  ages. 

Such  a  method  of  stating  the  case  can  not  in  reason  be  ob- 
jected to,  or  be  suspected  of  unfairness ;  and  I  ask  every  pro- 
fessional reader,  and  it  is  to  my  professional  brethren  that 
these  Tracts  are  primarily  addressed,  I  ask  him  to  put  the 
question  to  himself  as  he  reads,  is  it  not  true  f 

The  College  of  Physicians  possesses  one  of  the  most  com- 
plete collections  of  Materia  Medica  in  Europe.  "Glancing  at 
the  extensive  and  motley  assemblage  of  substances  with  which 
these  cabinets  are  overwhelmed,  it  is  impossible,"  says  Dr. 
Paris,  in  a  lecture  addressed  to  the  assembled  college,  "to  cast 
our  eyes  over  such  multiplied  groups,  without  being  forcibly 

*  Pinel. — Nosographie  Philosophique.     5th  Ed.  p.  lxxxviii.     Paris:  1813 


THE  PROVINGS  OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  5 

struck  with  the  palpable  absurdity  of  some,  the  disgusting  and 
loathsome  nature  of  others,  the  total  want  of  activity  in  many, 
and  the  uncertain  and  precarious  reputation  of  all ;  or,  without 
feeling  an  eager  curiosity  to  inquire  from  the  combination  of 
what  causes  it  can  have  happened,  that  substances,  at  one  pe- 
riod in  the  highest  esteem,  and  of  generally  acknowledged 
utility  have  fallen  into  total  neglect  and  disrepute;  while 
others,  of  humble  pretensions,  and  little  significance,  have 
maintained  their  ground  for  so  many  centuries ;  and  on  what 
account,  materials  of  no  energy  whatever,  have  received  the 
indisputable  sanction,  and  unqualified  support  of  the  best  and 
wisest  practitioners  of  the  age.  That  such  fluctuations  of 
opinion,  and  versatility  in  practice,  should  have  produced, 
even  in  the  most  candid  and  learned  observers,  an  unfavorable 
impression  with  regard  to  the  general  efficacy  of  medicines, 
can  hardly  excite  our  astonishment,  much  less  our  indignation ; 
nor  can  we  be  surprised  to  find  that  another  portion  of  man- 
kind has  at  once  arraigned  Physic  as  a  fallacious  art,  or  de- 
rided it  as  a  composition  of  error  and  fraud.  They  ask,  and 
it  must  be  confessed  that  they  ask  with  reason — what  pledge 
can  be  afforded  them,  that  the  boasted  remedies  of  the  present 
day  will  not,  like  their  predecessors,  fall  into  disrepute,  and  in 
their  turn  serve  only  as  humiliating  memorials  of  the  credu- 
lity and  infatuation  of  the  physicians  who  commended  and 
prescribed  them." 

Dr.  Paris  afterwards  speaks  of  "  the  barren  labors  of  the 
ancient  empirics,  who  saw  without  discerning,  and  adminis- 
tered without  discriminating  and  concluded  without  reason- 
ing." And,  passing  to  modern  times,  he  declares  that  we 
"  should  not  be  surprised  at  the  very  imperfect  state  of  the 
Materia  Medica,  as  far  as  it  depends  upon  what  is  commonly 
called  experience.  Kay,"  he  says,  "attempted  to  enumerate 
the  virtues  of  plants  from  experience,  and  the  system  serves 
only  to  commemorate  his  failure;  Vogel  likewise  prof*  * 
to  assign  to  substances  those  powers  which  had  been  Learned 
from  accumulated  experience;  and  he  speaks  of  roasted  toad 
as  a  specific  for  the  pains  of  gout,  and  asserts  that  a  person 
may  secure  himself  for  the  whole  year  from  angina,  by  eating 
a  roasted  swallow." 

"The  revolutions,"  continues  Dr.  Paris,  "and  vicissitudes 
which  remedies  have  undergone,  in  medical  as  well  as  popular 
opinion,  from  the  ignorance  of  some  ages,  the  learning  of 
others,  the  superstitions  of  the  weak,  and  the  designs  of  the 
crafty,  afford  an  ample  subject  for  philosophical  reflection." 

"Iron,  whose  medicinal  virtues  have  been  so  generally  al- 


6  THE   PROVINGS  OF  HOMCEOPATHY. 

lowed,  has  not  escaped  those  vicissitudes  in  reputation  which 
almost  every  valuable  remedy  has  been  doomed  to  suffer." 

"The  fame  even  of  Peruvian  bark  has  been  occasionally 
obscured  by  the  clouds  of  false  theory ;  some  condemned  its 
use  altogether  'because  it  did  not  evacuate  the  morbific  mat- 
ter;' others  'because  it  bred  obstructions  in  the  viscera;' 
others  again  '  because  it  only  bound  up  the  spirits,  and  stopped 
the  paroxysms  for  a  time,  and  favored  the  translation  of  the 
peccant  matter  into  the  more  noble  parts.'  It  was  sold  first  by 
the  Jesuits  for  its  weight  in  silver,  (about  1660,)  and  Conda- 
mine  relates  that  in  1690  several  thousand  pounds  of  it  lay  at 
Piura  and  Payta  for  want  of  a  purchaser." 

"It  is  well  known  with  what  avidity  the  public  embraced 
the  expectations  given  by  Stoerck  of  Vienna,  in  1760,  with 
respect  to  Hemlock ;  every  body,  says  Dr.  Fothergill,  made 
the  extract,  and  every  body  prescribed  it,  but  finding  that  it 
would  not  perform  the  wonders  ascribed  to  it,  and  that  a  mul- 
titude of  discordant  diseases  refused  to  yield,  as  it  was  asserted 
they  would,  to  its  narcotic  powers,  practitioners  fell  into  the 
opposite  extreme  of  absurdity,  and,  declaring  that  it  could  do 
nothing  at  all,  dismissed  it  at  once  as  inert  and  useless."'55' 

I  might  go  on  quoting  nearly  the  whole  of  Dr.  Paris's  two 
lectures ;  for  they  proceed  in  the  same  strain,  but  I  have  given 
sufficient  to  satisfy  any  unprejudiced  mind. 

Every  practitioner  who  has  reached,  or  passed  the  middle 
of  life,  will  remember  instances  in  his  own  experience,  of  this 
fickle  vicissitude,  this  fashionable  reputation  and  capricious  ob- 
livion. He  will  remember,  for  example,  the  time  when  al- 
most every  gentleman  he  met  carried  white  mustard-seed  in 
his  waistcoat  pocket.  He  will  not  have  forgotten  the  similar 
rise  and  fall  of  many  other  remedies. 

That  the  picture  drawn  by  Dr.  Paris  is  not  one  of  past 
times  only,  but  is  equally  true  of  our  own  day,  is  manifest  from 
the  perusal  of  the  medical  journals  of  the  present  moment. 
Take  up,  for  instance,  the  last  volume  of  Mr.  Braithwaite's 
Retrospect  of  these  journals,  and  read  the  whole,  from  the 
opening  sentence  to  the  appendix.  The  volume  commences 
thus:  "Dr.  Johnson  (assistant physician  to  King's  College 
Hospital)  truly  observes  that  on  few  subjects  is  there  such 
diversity  of  opinion  as  upon  the  effects  of  remedies  in  disease, 
their  modes  of  action,  and  the  best  methods  of  administering 
them."     And  the  appendix  on  cholera  is  thus  introduced : 

"  We  took  some  pains  in  our  20th  volume,  (1849,)  to  collect 

*  Paris — Pharmacologia.     Introduction. 


THE   PKOVINGS   OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  7 

and  arrange  the  many  opinions  on  Asiatic  cholera,  both  as  to 
its  pathology,  causes,  and  treatment,  which  were  published  at 
that  time. 

"  We  now  add  some  other  opinions  which  have  been  pub- 
lished since  the  epidemic  made  its  appearance  in  the  present 
year  of  1853.  But  we  do  not  think  it  necessary  again  to  enter 
into  so  minute  an  analysis  as  we  did  before,  because  we  do  not 
perceive  that  there  has  been  any  very  material  addition  to  our 
previous  knowledge  on  the  subject.  We  will,  therefore,  mere- 
ly subjoin  some  of  the  opinions  on  the  treatment  of  this  disease 
which  seem  to  us  to  be  the  most  sensible — although  we  must 
acknowledge  that  the  difference  of  opinion  has  sometimes 
greatly  amused  us."* 

To  me  it  is  not  amusing  but  very  painful  and  melancholy 
that,  after  the  earnest  and  conscientious  labors,  during  thou- 
sands of  years,  of  tens  of  thousands  of  educated  men,  all  en- 
gaged daily  in  the  study  and  the  practice  of  medicine,  such 
should  be  the  issue!  It  proclaims  loudly  that  the  method 
pursued  must  be  a  faulty  one,  and  that  a  better  state  of  things 
ought  to  be  sought  for,  not  from  any  imaginable  amount  of  perse- 
verance in  the  same  track,  but  by  discovering,  if  possible,  some 
new  path. 

II.  Let  us  proceed,  therefore,  to  inquire  what  new  method 
has  been  suggested  and  agreed  to  ? 

"Primum,  in  corpore  sano  medela  tentanda  est,  sine  pere- 
grina  ulla  miscela  ;  exigua  illius  dosis  ingerenda,  et  ad  omnes 
quae  inde  contingunt  affectiones,  quis  pulsus,  quis  calor,  qua? 
respiratio,  qusenam  excretiones,  attendendum.  Inde  adduc- 
tum  phaenorninorum  in  sano  obviorum,  transeas  ad  experimenta 
in  corpore  wgroto." 

"  In  the  first  place,  the  remedy  is  to  be  tried  on  the  healthy  body, 
without  any  foreign  substance  mixed  with  it ;  a  very  small 
dose  is  to  be  taken,  and  attention  is  to  be  directed  to  every 
effect  produced  by  it;  for  example,  on  the  pulse,  the  temper- 
ature, the  respiration,  the  secretions.  Having  obtained  these 
obvious  phenomena  in  health,  you  may  then  pass  on  to  experi- 
ment on  the  body  in  a  state  of  disease." 

Such  was  the  suggestion  of  the  illustrious  Halleb,  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  century.  And  who  was  Hall  i:  a  ?  He 
has  been  called  the  "  Prince  of  Physiologists,"  and  of  him  it 
has  been  recorded  that  "  no  individual,  either  of  ancient  or 
modern  times,  has  equalled  him  in  the  extent  of  his  erudition, 

*  Braitkwmte.     Half-yearly  Retrospect  of  Medicine.    July  to  December,  1£53. 


8  THE  PROVINGS  OF  HOMOEOPATHY 

and  the  magnitude  of  his  labors.  His  fame  was  universal ;  no 
person  of  rank  or  scientific  eminence  visited  Switzerland  with  - 
out  paying  their  respects  to  Haller.  Foreign  countries  were 
alike  anxious  to  gain  his  services,  and  to  bestow  upon  him 
honors." 

Here  then  is  a  new  path  discovered  and  pointed  out  to  us 
by  a  man  every  way  worthy  of  attention.  Some  of  the  ancients 
had  made  experiments  with  poisons,  but  they  were  undertaken 
for  a  different  object,  the  finding  out  of  antidotes.  This  method 
seems  now  for  the  first  time  to  have  been  placed  before  the 
world  as  the  best  means  of  learning,  the  healing  virtue  of 
drugs. 

The  method  met  with  approbation.  Among  others,  Hah- 
nemann, a  Grerman  physician  then  rising  into  notice,  adopts 
and  advocates  it  earnestly. 

"The  physician,"  he  says,  "whose  sole  aim  it  is  to  perfect 
his  art,  can  avail  himself  of  no  other  information  respecting 
medicines  than 

"  First.  What  is  the  pure  action  of  each  by  itself  on  the 
human  body  ? 

"  Second.  What  do  observations  of  its  action  in  this  or  that 
simple  or  complex  disease  teach  us  ?" 

He  remarks  that  the  last  object  is  partly  obtained  in  the  prac- 
tical writings  of  the  best  observers.  But  so  many  contradictions 
occur  among  the  observations  thus  recorded,  that  some  natural 
standard  is  still  required,  by  which  we  may  be  enabled  to  judge 
of  their  relative  truth  and  value.  Hence  the  necessity  for  an 
answer  to  the  first  question,  What  are  the  effects  produced  by 
a  given  medicinal  substance  on  the  healthy  human  body  ?  * 

Many  eminent  physicians  continued,  from  time  to  time,  to 
express  their  concurrence  in  this  method,  until  at  length  in 
1842,  about  a  century  after  its  proposal  by  Haller,  it  has 
been  formally  adopted.  A  public  assemblage  of  medical  men, 
at  the  Scientific  Congress  held  at  Strasburg  in  that  year,  an- 
nounced the  adoption  of  the  proposal  in  the  following  reso- 
lution : 

"  The  third  section  (the  medical)  are  unanimously  of  opinion 
that  experiments  with  medicines  on  healthy  individuals  are,  in 
the  present  state  of  medical  science,  of  urgent  necessity  for 
physiology  and  therapeutics,  and  that  it  is  desirable  that  all 
known  facts  should  be  methodically  and  scrupulously  collected, 

♦Hahnemann's  first  Essay  on  a  new  principle  for  ascertaining  the  curativo 
towers  of  drugs.     Hufeland's  Journal.  1196. 


THE   PROVINGS   OF   HOMCEOPATHY.  9 

and  with  prudence,  cautiousness,  and  scientific  exactness  ar- 
ranged, written  out,  and  published." 

The  proving  of  drugs  on  the  healthy  is  thus  admitted  to  be  not 
only  useful,  but  of  urgent  necessity. 

III.  How  far  has  this  new  method  been  carried  out  ? 

The  plan  proposed  is  this :  Voluntarily  to  make  oneself  ill 
with  poisonous  doses  of  drugs,  for  the  sake  of  learning  in  the 
first  place,  upon  what  organs  they  act,  and  the  changes  they 
produce  on  them,  and  afterwards  in  what  diseases  such  drugs 
may  be  given  as  remedies.  This  is  a  painful  path,  of  indefinite 
extent,  beset  with  obstacles,  and  demanding  an  unknown 
amount  of  labor  and  self-sacrifice.  Who  has  had  courage  to 
walk  in  it  ?  Not  Haller  himself.  He  saw,  but  he  did  not 
come,  nor  conquer.  Among  the  few  who  early  ventured  an  at- 
tempt, the  most  considerable  individual  was  Sto'erck.  As 
Mason  Good  observes,  he  engaged  himself  "  in  proving  upon 
his  own  person  the  violent  powers  of  colchicum  and  stramon- 
ium." Some  other  trials  were  made,  but,  to  quote  again  the 
last-named  excellent  writer:  "A  common  fate  attended  the 
whole  of  these  experiments.  From  attracting  and  concentra- 
ting the  attention  of  the  public,  the  medicines  to  which  they 
were  directed  became  equally  over- valued ;  were  employed 
upon  all  occasions ;  produced  frequent  disappointment ;  and 
gradually  fell  into  disuse."  * 

In  this  almost  hopeless  state  of  things,  with  the  zeal  and 
courage  of  a  true  pioneer,  Hahnemann  commenced  the  trial 
or  proving  of  drugs  on  his  own  person,  and  on  those  of  as 
many  of  his  friends  as  he  could  induce  to  join  him  in  the  dim- 
cult  and  perilous  adventure.  He  had  been  so  dissatisfied  with 
the  uncertainty,  want  of  success,  and  danger  of  the  usual  mode 
of  practice,  that  he  had  given  up  his  professional  duties,  and 
was  earning  a  scanty  maintenance  by  translating  books, 
by  pursuits  in  Chemistry.  His  active  mind  busied  itself  in 
searching  for  "an  easy,  sure,  trustworthy  method,  whereby 
diseases  may  be  seen  in  their  proper  light,  and  medicines 
interrogated  as  to  their  special  powers,  as  to  what  the}-  are 
really  and  positively  useful  for."  He  must,  thought  lie,  "ob- 
serve how  medicines  act  on  the  human  body,  when  it  is  in  the 
tranquil  state  of  health.  The  alterations  that  drugs  produce 
on  the  healthy  body  do  not  occur  in  vain,  they  must  signify 
something.  This  may  be  their  mode  of  teaching  us  what  dis- 
eases they  have  the  power  of  curing." 

*M;ison  Good.     Study  of  Medicine,  Vol.  I.     Prefacv. 


10  THE   PKOVINGS   OF  HOMOEOPATHY. 

Hahnemann's  first  trial  was  with  Peruvian  bark ;  he  took 
several  scruples,  in  successive  doses,  at  a  time  when  he  was 
in  perfect  health,  and  he  was  thrown  into  a  feverish  condition, 
which  had  some  resemblance  to  the  kinds  of  fever  for  which 
it  has  been  usual  to  prescribe  this  drug  as  a  remedy.  Hence 
again  the  thought  that  there  must  be  a  direct  connection  between 
the  disease-producing  and  the  disease-curing  properties  of  drugs ; 
and  hence  the  resolution  to  try  a  series  of  experiments  upon 
himself,  to  discover  the  truth  or  the  fallacy  of  the  thought  that 
"likes  are  to  be  treated  with  likes." 

During  a  long  course  of  years  all  the  best-known  drugs  were 
experimented  upon  in  succession,  until  the  morbid  effects  which 
each  is  capable  of  producing,  were  ascertained  with  more  or 
less  exactitude  and  completeness.  The  bold  and  novel  under- 
taking was  persevered  in  with  untiring  industry,  and  at  the  ex- 
pense of  much  personal  privation  and  suffering ;  and  had  the 
results  been  given  to  us  in  a  narrative  detailing  them  as  they 
were  successively  ascertained,  they  would  have  formed  an  im- 
perishable monument  of  an  amount  of  labor  and  self-denial 
such  as  the  world  has  rarely  seen. 

The  praise  of  having  led  the  way  is  undoubtedly  Hahne- 
mann's. And,  notwithstanding  the  defects  in  his  provings, 
which  I  shall  feel  bound  to  notice,  such  is  the  value  of  a  true 
principle,  they  have  already  guided  us  to  a  mode  of  treating 
diseases,  far  more  successful  than  any  which  was  known  before. 

To  facilitate,  as  he  imagined,  the  use  in  actual  practice  of  the 
immense  materials  he  had  collected,  he  invented  an  artificial 
arrangement  of  them,  before  they  were  presented  to  the  world. 
In  this  scheme  or  plan,  all  the  symptoms  are  detached  from 
those  originally  associated  with  them,  or  which  occurred  in  the 
same  experiment,  and  they  are  rearranged  according  to  the 
anatomical  division  of  the  body.  For  example,  all  the  symp- 
toms affecting  the  head,  in  any  number  of  provers  of  the  sa.me 
drug,  are  put  together ;  then  those  belonging  to  the  eyes,  the 
ears,  the  face,  the  throat,  the  stomach,  the  chest,  the  arms,  etc. 
Hahnemann  has  given  us  several  volumes  thus  curiously  dis- 
jointed ;  and  he  has  withheld  from  us  the  means  of  arranging 
them  otherwise,  by  keeping  back  the  original  histories  of  the 
actual  provings. 

The  dismemberment  of  the  symptoms  from  their  natural 
groups  is  a  great  defect  in  the  provings  of  Hahnemann  ;  and, 
among  lesser  faults,  there  is  also  another  of  considerable  mag- 
nitude. This  has  arisen  from  his  anxiety  to  give  &  perfect  pic- 
ture of  the  effects  produced  by  the  substances  under  trial,  and 
consists  in  his  having  suffered  a  large  mass  of  insignificant,  and 


THE   PROVINGS  OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  11 

often  perhaps  imaginary,  sensations,  and  other  trivial  matters,  to 
mingle  with  the  real  and  important  symptoms.  This  error 
has,  like  the  former,  greatly  encumbered  and  confused  the  re- 
presentation of  the  action  of  the  drug ;  which,  had  it  been 
avoided,  would  have  been  much  more  clear  and  instructive. 
The  numerous  trivialities  thus  introduced  not  only  require  to 
be  overlooked  by  the  student,  but  they  also  form  a  stumbling- 
block  to  the  inquirer,  and  a  ground  of  reproach  for  the  oppo- 
nent. 

But  if  imperfection  and  error  attach  to  the  performance  of 
Hahnemann,  shall  that  be  thought  surprising  ?  Shall  the 
undertaking  itself  be  condemned  because  the  first  attempt  has 
not  attained  perfection  ?  Doubtless  there  are  defects  which  ble- 
mish this  great  work  of  HAHNEMANN  ;  let  it  be  our  endeavor 
to  discover  these  defects,  and  to  remove  them ;  to  perfect  the 
work  begun.  It  is  not  given  to  the  same  age,  much  less  to  the 
same  individual,  to  begin  and  to  complete  any  undertaking  so 
vast  as  this.  We  have  seen  that  the  old  method,  after  a  most  pro- 
longed and  diligent  trial,  has  signally  failed ;  we  have  seen  that 
the  proving  of  drugs  upon  the  healthy  has  been  admitted  to 
be  of  urgent  necessity  ;  we  have  further  seen  that  the  work  has 
been  begun,  and  there  is  now  no  course  open  to  the  profession  but 
to  carry  it  on  until  it  is  completed. 

To  restore  the  symptoms  of  each  proving  to  their  natural 
connection  with  each  other,  to  discard  all  that  are  insignificant 
or  imaginary,  and  all  which  have  arisen  from  other  causes 
than  the  drug  taken ;  to  connect  with  the  provings  the 
sex,  constitution,  etc.,  of  the  prover,  the  dose  of  the  drug,  and 
its  repetition,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  the  trial  has 
been  made  ;  and,  above  all,  to  discover  the  true  pathological  con- 
dition produced  by  five  drug,  so  that  the  corresponding  diseased 
state  for  which  the  drug  will  prove  the  best  remedy,  may  be 
more  easily  recognized ;  is  the  task  of  the  present  and  succeeding 
generations  of  medical  practitioners. 

It  is  admitted  that  the  knowledge  we  have  hithi 
relative  to  the  effects  of  the  substances  composing  th 
Medica,  is  almost  worthless.     IK^  any  one  deny  this?     If  so, 
upon  what  grounds  ? 

It  is  admitted  that  to  obtain  an  acquaintance  with  th< 
cf  more  value,  their  effects  in  health  must  be  learned  bv  proving 
them  upon  ourselves.     Does  any  one  deny  this?     If  so,  upon 
what  grounds? 

It  appears  that  several  physicians  have  begun  this  difficult 
undertaking;    for    example,    StoERCK,    already    mentioned, 


12  THE   PROVINGS   OF   HOMOEOPATHY. 

Dieffenbach  and  Jo'RG-  in  Germany;  Alexander  in  Scot- 
land; Chevallier  in  France,  and  Beraudi  and  his  three 
friends  in  Italy.  Some  of  these  were  before,  some  after 
Hahnemann  ;  none  of  them  homceopathists ;  but  their  efforts 
terminated  with  unimportant  results. 

The  work  was  begun  and  persevered  in  by  Hahnemann, 
with  such  an  amount  of  self-denying  labor  and  perseverance  as 
had  not  been  thought  of  before,  and  his.  results  exceeded  in 
importance  every  thing  which  had  been  accomplished  during 
all  the  centuries  before  him. 

I  have  allowed  that  Hahnemann's  provings  are  not  free 
from  errors  and  defects ;  but  I  contend,  and  this  from  my  own 
personal  observation  and  experience  at  the  bed-side  of  the  sick, 
that,  notwithstanding  these  errors  and  defects,  they  are  of  more 
practical  value  in  the  treatment  of  disease  than  any  thing 
which  had  been  effected  by  former  physicians. 

And  it  is  obvious,  as  I  have  remarked  already,  that  the  only 
path  now  open  to  professional  men  in  which  they  can  pursue 
their  career  with  credit,  and  with  any  hope  of  obtaining  more 
power  over  disease,  and  consequently  of  being  more  useful  to 
their  patients,  is  this  method  of  provings.  Is  not  the  old  path 
of  experimenting  upon  the  sick  shut  up  ?  in  the  court  of  reason 
is  it  not  closed  for  ever  ? 


The  problem  to  be  solved  relative  to  those  poisonous  sub- 
stances which  are  to  be  used  as  remedies  in  disease,  is  this : 
Upon  what  organs  of  the  body  do  they  act  ?  and,  What  are  the 
changes  they  produce  in  these  organs  ?  Each  drug  produces 
its  own  peculiar  effects,  it  is  therefore  necessary  that  each  be 
experimented  upon  alone.  This  was  pointed  out  by  Haller: 
"  The  remedy  is  to  be  tried  on  the  healthy  body  without  any 
foreign  substance  mixed  with  it."  It  has  been  admitted  by  our 
best  writers.  Mason  GrOOD  observes  that  "  there  are  some 
practitioners  who  think  that  all  the  articles  which  are  of  real 
use  in  the  cure  of  disease  he  within  a  small  compass,  and  may 
be  learned  without  burdening  the  memory.  This  remark  may 
be  allowed  to  those  who  are  limited  to  a  portable  dispensary, 
as  in  travelling  or  on  ship-board  ;  but  when  uttered  under 
other  circumstances,  it  savors  less  of  wisdom  than  of  indolence. 
We  may  easily  indeed  substitute  one  medicine  for  another; 
but  it  is  very  rarely,  if  ever,  that  we  can  hereby  obtain  an  in- 
tegral representative  ;  a  remedy  possessing  not  only  the  gene 


THE   PROVINGS   OF   HOMCEOPATHY.  13 

ral,  but  the  particular  qualities  of  that  whose  place  is  supplied, 
so  as  to  be  equally  adapted  to  the  exact  state  of  the  disease  or 
the  express  character  of  the  idiosyncrasy."* 

As  then  each  drug  produces  its  own  special  morbid  effects, 
and  is  to  be  investigated  by  itself,  under  what  circumstances 
can  this  knowledge  be  acquired  ?  These  morbid  effects  can  be 
discovered  in  two  ways :  first,  by  persons  in  health  taking 
them  voluntarily  for  this  purpose,  or  proving  them ;  secondly, 
from  cases  of  poisoning,  whether  accidental  or  intentional. 

I  will  now  give  a  few  examples  of  both  these  modes  of  ob- 
taining the  required  information.  They  are  not  adduced  as 
exhibitions  of  the  entire  sphere  of  acljon  of  these  particular 
drugs ;  the  limits  of  these  Essays  do  not  admit  of  this,  but  as 
illustrations  of  the  facts  which  are  so  valuable  as  the  founda- 
tion of  an  improved  method  of  treating  diseases.  According 
to  the  old  method,  after  having  examined  a  patient,  the  mental 
inquiry  is,  what  medicines  have  done  good  in  similar  cases  ? 
On  the  contrary,  those  who  are  guided  in  their  choice  of  a  re- 
medy by  the  principle  that  "  likes  are  to  be  treated  with  likes," 
ask  themselves,  what  drug  produces  similar  symptoms? 

The  cases  which  follow  may  be  considered  as  the  converse 
of  those  given  in  Tract  No.  3. 


CASES. 

ACONITUM   NAPELLUS. 

This  plant,  besides  possessing  other  healing  powers  of  import- 
ance, is  now  fully  established  as  a  most  valuable  remedy  in 
simple  and  inflammatory  fever.  It  must  entirely  banish  the  use 
of  the  lancet,  the  leech,  and  the  blister  in  such  cases. 

"Dr.  Frederick  Sohwakz,  20  years  old,  of  sanguine  tem- 
perament, with  unimpaired  health,  commenced  his  experiments 
with  three  drops  of  the  tincture,  and  gradually  increased  the 
dose  until  he  took  400  drops  at  once. 

"After  a  large  dose,  (400  drops,)  rigor,  commencing  in  the 
legs,  then  going  to  the  arms,  with  goose-skin;  great  fatigue, 
indifference,  irritability,  no  appetite — food  creates  nausea.  The 
rigor  continued  to  increase  in  the  afternoon,  and  he  became 

*  Mason  Good.     Study  of  Medicine. 


14  THE   PROVINGS  OF  HOMOEOPATHY. 

icy  cold,  no  coverings  suffice  to  warm  him.  Afterwards,  burn- 
ing in  the  eyes,  twitching  and  visions  of  sparks ;  roaring  in  the 
ears,  great  sensitiveness  to  noise.  Breath  hot,  breathing  quick- 
ened ;  on  breathing  deeply,  oppression,  anxiety,  and  painful 
stitches  betwixt  the  shoulders,  pulse  strong,  full,  quick.  In 
the  evening,  slight  perspirations  came  on,  after  which  nearly 
all  the  symptoms  went  off." 

Many  other  provings  give  similar  symptoms,  with  decided 
evidence  of  inflammation  of  the  brain,  the  eyes,  the  mucous 
and  the  serous  membranes,  the  larynx,  the  lungs,  the  heart,  and 
other  organs.  The  symptoms  of  several  of  these  affections 
were  experienced  by  tke  following  prover. 

Professor  Joseph  Zlatarovich,  37  years  old,  robust,  stout, 
dark  complexion,  of  sanguine  choleric  temperament.  He  took 
from  10  to  200  drops  of  the  tincture  daily  for  many  days ;  in 
sixty-eight  days  he  had  taken  about  5000  drops,  and  had  symp- 
toms of  great  severity,  such  as, 

"  Shivering  for  several  hours,  general  feeling  of  illness, 
weariness  and  exhaustion,  wandering  pains,  vertigo  and  stupe- 
faction, violent  headache,  as  if  the  head  were  compressed  with 
screws  at  both  temples ;  itching  and  burning  in  the  eyes  and 
eyelids;  the  eye-balls  feel  enlarged  as  if  coming  out  of  the 
orbit,  sensitiveness  of  the  larynx  to  inspired  air,  as  if  its  mu- 
cous membrane  were  divested  of  its  covering ;  cough  from  irri- 
tation of  the  larynx,  with  expectoration  of  gelatinous  mucus. 
Oppression  of  the  chest,  with  raw  pain  under  the  sternum  on 
inspiration;  stitches  in  the  lower  part  of  the  chest  towards  the 
false  ribs,  violent  dry  cough,  anxiety  in  the  region  of  the  heart, 
pains  in  the  back  and  limbs,"  etc. 

Aconite  has  acted  remeclially  in  cholera ;  it  produces  an  ex- 
haustion of  the  whole  frame  similar  to  that  of  cholera.  In 
evidence  of  this  fact  the  painful  instance  of  the  late  Dr.  Male 
of  Birmingham  may  be  cited. 

"Dr.  Male,  aged  65,  who  had  for  two  months  suffered 
from  pains  in  the  back  and  loins,  took  (in  1845)  tincture  of 
aconite  for  four  days,  beginning  with  5  drops,  three  times  a 
day,  and  increasing  the  close  to  6,  8,  and  10  drops,  (taking  in 
all  80  drops ;)  on  the  fifth  day  the  extremities  became  cold, 
the  surface  cold  and  clammy,  the  pulse  130,  feeble ;  cramps 
and  pains  in  the  legs,  and  spasmodic  pains  in  the  stomach.  He 
died  on  the  7th  day." 

Aconite,  as  before  observed,  possesses  other  valuable  pro- 
perties, but  in  its  relation  to  inflammatory  fever,  (synochus,)  it 
stands,  at  present,  unrivalled. 


THE   PROVING S   OF   HOMCEOPATHY.  15 


ARSENIC. 

This  deadly  poison  has  an  action  upon  the  human  body  in 
many  respects  the  opposite  of  the  preceding  drug.  The  me- 
lancholy relations  of  its  poisonous  effects  are  so  numerous  that 
its  characteristic  properties  may  be  readily  gathered  from  them. 
It  has  also  been  much  used  as  a  remedy :  I  will  give  a  list  of 
cases  extracted  from  the  Index  to  the  first  19  volumes  of  the 
Edinburgh  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal ;  of  course  these  are 
diseases  treated  on  the  old  method;  by  comparing  them  with 
the  cases  of  poisoning  which  follow,  it  will  be  seen  on  how 
many  occasions  the  law  of  similia  similibus  curantur  has  been 
unwittingly  adhered  to ;  it  is  fair  to  infer  that  the  benefit  which 
has  been  experienced  in  such  cases  has  arisen  from  the  homoeo- 
pathic action  of  the  remedy. 

"Arsenic,  solution  of,  used  in  a  case  of  angina  pectoris,  (a 
case  of  carditis  occasioned  by  arsenic  is  then  given ;)  its  use  in 
ascites ;  approved  remedy  for  the  radical  cure  of  cancer ;  its 
use  in  convulsions ;  its  use  in  dyspepsia;  its  use  in  elephantiasis ; 
its  use  in  epilepsy ;  its  use  in  curing  periodical  headaches ;  ef- 
fects in  hemicrania ;  benefit  derived  from  it  in  hooping  cough ; 
its  use  in  hypochondriasis ;  its  use  in  hysteria ;  its  use  in  in- 
termittent fever ;  its  use  in  lepra ;  its  use  in  megrim ;  its  use 
in  melancholia;  its  use  in  chronic  ophthalmia;  its  use  in  palpita- 
tion of  the  heart ;  its  use  in  paralysis ;  its  use  in  rhachitis ;  its  use 
in  rheumatism;  its  use  in  schirrus;  successful  in  tic-dou- 
loureux;  successful  effects  in  lock-jaw;  its  use  in  typhus; 
useful  in  phagedenic,  and  other  ulcers;  its  use  in  cases  of 
worms." 

It  is  evident  that  the  prevailing  character  of  these  diseases 
is  asthenic,  prostration  of  strength,  and  a  tendency  to  disor- 
ganization and  decomposition;  brought  to  a  climax  in  malig- 
nant sore-throat,  gangrene,  and  Asiatic  cholera;  in  all  of 
which,  as  well  as  in  the  majority  of  the  cases  enumerated 
above,  it  has  been  successfully  used  by  homoeopath  ists. 

Dr.  Eoget  records  the  following  case  of  poisoning  in  the  2d 
volume  of  the  Medico-Chirurgical  Transactions,  1811.  It  ex- 
hibits a  large  number  of  the  characteristic  effects  of  Arsenic. 

"A  girl,  aged  19,  of  a  sanguine  temperament  and  delicate 
constitution,  having  met  with  a  severe  disappointment,  pur- 
chased 60  grains  of  white  arsenic,  strewed  the  powder  on  a 
piece  of  bread  and  butter,  and  eat  the  whole.  In  about  ten 
minutes  an  effort  to  vomit  took  place;  in  about  an  hour  she 
looked  exceedingly  pale,  felt  very  ill,  and  hastened  to  bed  ;  in 
a  few  minutes  she  was  seized  with  violent  pain  in  the  Btorsach, 


16  THE   PEOVINGS   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

soon  followed  by  severe  vomiting;  her  mother  gtve  her  large 
draughts  of  warm  water,  which  immediately  returned.  The 
vomiting  continued,  with  griping  in  the  bowels,  and  copious 
watery  evacuations ;  some  florid  blood  was  vomited.  Her  an- 
guish had  now  risen  to  such  a  pitch  that  her  resolution  gave 
way  to  the  urgent  wish  for  relief,  and  she  acknowledged  the 
cause  of  her  sufferings.  The  following  day  she  was  suffering 
intense  pain  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  much  increased  by 
pressure,  with  frequent  retching  and  occasional  vomiting ;  the 
face  flushed ;  respiration  hurried  and  anxious,  with  frequent 
hiccup;  pulse  120,  small  and  extremely  quick;  tongue  white. 
At  five  in  the  evening,  pain  in  the  stomach  continued  intense, 
(notwithstanding  bleeding  and  a  blister,)  a  burning  heat  in  the 
throat,  much  thirst,  also  much  pain  in  the  forehead,  and  in- 
tolerance of  light,  frequent  feeling  of  excessive  coldness,  par- 
ticularly in  the  extremities,  although  to  the  hand  of  another 
person  they  appeared  to  be  of  the  natural  warmth.  At  seven, 
pulse  140,  very  cold ;  on  being  raised  in  bed,  she  fainted  for 
half  an  hour,  with  slight  convulsions.  At  eleven,  her  strength 
diminished,  frequent  hiccup,  constant  burning  in  the  throat 
and  stomach,  extremely  pale,  eyes  kept  closed  from  dread  of 
light,  pupil  contracts  slowly.  Next  morning  she  is  free  from 
pain  and  sickness,  and  bears  the  light  better;  pulse,  112,  small ; 
the  color  has  returned  to  her  lips  and  cheeks ;  she  is  anxious 
to  recover.  In  the  evening  the  headache  is  distressing,  pulse 
120.  On  the  3d  day  vertigo,  headache  much  increased,  dread 
of  light  again,  oppression  of  breathing,  feeling  of  cold  water 
running  down  the  back,  and  sense  of  sinking;  pulse,  125,  and 
very  small.  To  take  camphor,  which  gave  her  much  relief. 
The  following  day  the  symptoms  continued,  and  on  the  5th 
day  they  increased,  with  pain  under  the  margin  of  the  ribs  on 
the  left  side,  constant  and  severe,  and  much  aggravated  by  a 
cough  which  was  increasing  in  violence.  On  the  6th  and  7th 
days  this  state  continued,  but  abated  on  the  latter  day,  when 
at  night  she  suddenly  went  off  in  a  fit,  during  which  she  was 
completely  insensible,  the  left  arm  and  leg  agitated  with  strong 
convulsions  ;  considerable  foaming  at  the  mouth  and  distortion 
of  the  features ;  the  violent  symptoms  lasted  two  hours,  and 
the  insensibility  all  night.  On  the  8th  day  completely  coma- 
tose and  unable  to  move,  eyes  closed,  pupils  dilated,  but  con- 
tracted on  the  admission  of  light ;  when  strongly  roused  she 
complained  of  violent  headache,  and  also  of  pain  in  the  region 
of  the  spleen,  which  she  could  not  bear  to  be  pressed.  On  the 
9th  day,  she  had  a  convulsive  fit  at  the  same  hour  as  the  pre- 
ceding, and  continued  in  a  state  of  torpor      On  the  10th  day 


THE   PROVINGS  OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  17 

she  Had  a  fit  which  lasted  four  hours,  from  which  she  recovered 
in  my  presence,  as  if  awaking  from  a  sound  sleep,  and  de- 
clared she  felt  perfectly  well,  her  only  complaint  being  a  vio- 
lent itching  of  the  skin  over  the  whole  body.  The  convulsions 
returned  in  the  evening.  On  the  11th  day  she  had  headache, 
itchiness  of  the  skin,  and  burning  sensation  in  the  throat ;  the 
convulsions  returned  with  violence  for  an  hour  and  a  half, 
when  she  again  awoke  free  from  complaint,  excepting  a  violent 
itehing  of  the  nose,  and  a  numbness  in  three  of  the  fingers  on 
the  right  hand.  On  the  12th  and  following  days  the  convul- 
sions still  returned  during  sleep,  but  gradually  became  milder, 
and  at  length  amounted  only  to  irregular  twitchings  of  the  ten- 
dons ;  in  another  week  these  had  left  her,  and  her  strength  a 
good  deal  returned,  but  she  continued  to  suffer  from  occasional 
flatulence,  oppression  of  the  stomach,  and  difficulty  of  breath- 
ing." I  have  endeavored  to  abridge  this  case,  but  it  is  so  full 
of  instruction,  in  the  successive  changes  in  its  symptoms,  re- 
presenting so  well,  so  many  distinct  morbid  conditions,  that  it 
can  scarcely  be  studied  too  much. 

The  following  case,  given  by  Dr.  Christisox,  in  his  work 
on  Poisons,  extends  the  picture  of  the  characteristic  features 
of  arsenic. 

"On  two  successive  evenings,  immediately  after  taking 
some  gruel,  Mr.  Blandy  was  attacked  with'pricking  and  burn- 
ing of  the  tongue,  throat,  stomach,  and  bowels,  and  with  vomit- 
ing and  purging.  Five  days  after,  when  the  symptoms  were 
fully  formed,  he  had  inflamed  pimples  round  his  lips,  and  a 
sense  of  burning  in  the  mouth ;  the  nostrils  were  similarly  af- 
fected ;  the  eyes  were  blood-shot,  and  affected  with  burning 
pain;  the  tongue  was  swollen,  the  throat  red  and  excoriated, 
and  in  both  there  was  tormenting  sense  of  burning;  he  had 
likewise,  swelling,  with  pricking  and  burning  pain  of  the  bo  1  v ; 
excoriations  and  ulcers ;  vomiting  and  bloody  diarrhoea  :  a  low, 
tremulous  pulse ;  laborious  respiration;  and  great  difficulty  in 
speaking  and  swallowing.  In  this  state  he  lingered  several 
days,  and  died  nine  days  after  the  first  suspected  basin  of  gruel 
was  taken." 

The  next  case  is  from  Mr.  Braithwaite's  Retrospect  for 
1852. 

"Dr.  Maclagan  was  requested  to  see  Margaret  Davidson, 
aired  35,  on  the  4th  of  November,  1851,  she  having  at  three 
o'clock  P.  M.,  taken  a  dessert  spoonful  of  powdered  arsenic,  in 
mistake  for  a  saline  effervescing  powder.    No  ell'  pro- 

duced for  half  an  hour;  she  was  then  sick ;  at  seven  o'clock  she 
presented  all  the  usual   symptoms.     Magnesia  was  adminis- 
2 


18  THE  PROVINGS  OF  HOMCEOPATHY 

tered,  which  was  generally  vomited  as  soon  as  swallowed. 
November  5. — Has  vomited  all  night  and  still  does  so ;  has 
had  diarrhoea ;  suppression  of  urine ;  she  lies  in  a  drowsy , 
torpid  condition,  eyes  sunk,  face  blue,  and,  like  the  extremi- 
ties, cold  and  clammy.  She  presents  the  most  perfect  resemblance 
to  a  case  of  Asiatic  cholera  in  the  stage  of  collapse.  From  this 
state  she  slowly  rallied,  and  on  the  12th  had  extensive  bron- 
chitis over  the  whole  of  both  lungs,  from  which  she  ultimate- 
ly recovered." 

With  one  more  case  the  picture  will  be  more  complete.  It 
is  from  Taylor's  Medical  Jurisprudence. 

"A  young  woman  procured  a  lump  of  arsenic.  She  began 
by  biting  it,  and  then  broke  it  up  into  coarse  fragments,  put 
them  into  a  glass  of  water,  and  swallowed  them.  This  was  in 
the  morning,  and  she  went  the  whole  day  without  uneasiness. 
In  the  evening  there  were  no  febrile  symptoms ;  at  eight  o'clock 
she  suffered  from  pain  in  the  abdomen ;  at  eleven  she  appeared 
to  be  more  calm  than  ever,  and  had  a  strong  desire  to  sleep  ; 
at  three  in  the  morning  she  sat  up  in  her  bed,  complained  a 
little  of  her  stomach,  and  then  died  without  the  least  appear- 
ance of  suffering." 

The  quantities  of  the  poison  taken  in  these  cases  was  excess- 
ively large ;  three  or  four  grains  being,  in  many  case,  sufficient 
to  cause  death. 

ATROPA  BELLADONNA. 

This  also  is  a  deadly  poison.  It  has  been  extensively  em- 
ployed as  a  remedy  for  neuralgic  affections,  such  as  tic-dou- 
loureux ;  for  epilepsy,  and  mania ;  for  hydrophobia ;  for  can- 
cerous affections ;  by  Hahnemann  it  has  been  recommended 
both  as  a  remedy  for,  and  a  preservative  from  scarlet  fever, 
and  also  in  some  inflammatory  diseases,  as  of  the  throat,  eyes, 
brain,  etc.  The  organs  upon  which  it  primarily  acts  are  the 
brain,  and  nervous  system,  the  eyes,  the  throat,  and  the  skin  ; 
as  is  apparent  from  the  following  cases  of  poisoning. 

In  the  London  Medical  and  Physical  Journal,  vol.  57,  are 
two  cases  by  Mr.  Smith,  of  Forres,  N.  B. 

"Nov.  5,  1827.— At  five  P.  M.  I  was  called  to  see  two  of 
Mr.  M.'s  children,  both  boys,  the  one  four,  the  other  two  years 
of  age.  They  had  eaten  the  berries  of  the  Atropa  Belladonna 
from  a  bush  in  the  garden.  It  appears  to  have  been  between 
one  and  two  o'clock ;  for  soon  alter  two,  the  elder  boy  went  to 
school,  where  the  symptoms  made  their  appearance.  When 
taken  up  to  his  lessons  he  did  not  speak,  but  laughed  immode- 


THE   PKOVINGS   OF  HOMCEOPATHY.  19 

rately,  and  grasped  at  imaginary  objects ;  he  Lad  previously 
complained  of  pain  in  his  head.  He  was  now  sent  home, 
where  the  laughing  continued,  and  he  was  as  talkative  as  he 
had  before  been  silent,  but  he  was  altogether  incoherent; 
added  to  this,  he  was  in  constant  motion,  running  round  and 
round  the  room.  I  found  him  laughing  and  talking  alternate- 
ly ;  he  was  kept  on  the  knee,  but  the  extremities  were  in  vio- 
lent and  almost  constant  action;  the  eyes  fixed,  and  the  pupils 
fully  dilated,  and  insensible  to  the  light  of  a  candle.  The  same 
symptoms  manifested  themselves  in  the  younger  boy,  and 
were  now  fully  as  violent.  Emetics  and  castor  oil  were  ad- 
ministered. Notwithstanding  this  treatment  the  symptoms 
became  worse.  The  muscular  movements  stronger  and  inces- 
sant, the  breathing  noisy  and  with  a  croupy  sound,  and  occa- 
sional cough ;  their  faces  were  swollen  and  red ;  incoherent 
talking  continuing ;  the  skin  became  cold ;  pulse,  barely  per- 
ceptible in  the  beginning,  now  not  felt  at  the  wrist ;  there  was 
lock-jaw.  They  were  put  into  warm  baths,  and  rubbed  with 
flour  of  mustard.  They  gradually  became  warm  and  the 
pulse  more  distinct.  This  state  of  collapse  returned  on  the 
following  day  more  than  once,  and  the  same  means  were  used. 
On  the  7th  tney  began  to  distinguish  objects,  (they  had  been 
quite  blind,)  and  to  speak  and  act  rationally ;  pupils  were  still 
much  dilated,  and  eyes  red ;  the  younger  child  has  had  a  rash, 
which  disappeared  on  the  second  day.  .  They  were  freely 
purged,  which  brought  away  the  skins  of  the  berries.  From 
this  time  they  continued  to  mend.  The  noisy,  croupy  cough 
continued  longest;  and  when  the  elder  boy  has  a  cold,  the 
cough  is  still  (at  a  distance  of  six  years)  of  the  same  nature. 
A  third  boy,  who  had  eaten  the  berries  with  them,  was  in  the 
hands  of  another  practitioner,  with  a  like  result." 

The  following  case  is  from  the  Edinburgh  Medical  and  Sur- 
gical Journal,  vol.  31,  1828. 

"  A  gentleman  who  had  been  accustomed  to  take  occasion- 
ally a  purgative  mixture  containing  46  grains  of  jalap,  sent  to 
his  apothecary,  Instead  of  his  physician's  French  recipe,  a 
translation  of  it  by  himself  in  Latin,  in  which  he  had  used  the 
word  belladonna  as  the  proper  equivalent  for  the  French  name 
of  jalap,  belle-de-nuit.  The  mixture  was  faithfully  prepared 
according  to  the  formula,  and  taken  by  the  patient  about  six 
in  the  morning.  The  first  effect  was  most  violent  headache, 
commencing  about  an  hour  afterwards,  affecting  chiefly  the 
orbits,  and  accompanied  ere  long  with  excessive  redness  of  the 
eyes,  face,  and  subsequently  of  the  whole  body.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  entire  skin  presented  a  uniform  redness,  exactly 


20  THE   PROVINGS   OF  HOMOEOPATHY. 

like  that  of  scarlatina.  The  patient  was  also  affected  at  the  same 
time  with  intense  redness  of  the  throat,  and  great  heat,  which 
seemed  to  spread  throughout  the  whole  alimentary  canal ;  he 
had  also  extremely  painful  irritation  and  suppression  of  the 
secretion  of  the  kidneys.  Twenty  leeches  were  applied,  and 
he  experienced  much  relief  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours.  lie 
passed  a  quiet  night,  and  next  morning  complained  only  of  a 
general  feeling  of  discomfort.  M.  Jolly,  the  relater  of  this 
case,  states  that  he  has  repeatedly  seen  the  powder  and  extract 
of  belladonna  cause  a  similar  scarlet  efflorescence."  Nouvelle 
Bibliotheque  Medicale,  Julliet,  1828. 

In  the  Medicinishehe  Jahrbiicher  des  k.  k.  Oesterrcichischen 
Staates,  1832,  some  cases  are  related,  which  add  the  symptoms 
of  hydrophobia  to  the  picture  drawn  in  the  preceding  histo- 
ries. 

"A  man,  accompanied  by  his  son,  aged  nine  years,  walking 
one  afternoon  in  the  woods,  and  seeing  the  branches  of  bella- 
donna bearing  black  and  brilliant  fruit,  resembling  wild  cher- 
ries, gathered  some  for  his  son,  who  ate  them  freely  on  account 
of  their  sweetish  taste ;  he  also  ate  ten  berries  himself,  and 
carried  home  a  large  quantity  for  his  other  children.  Another 
son,  not  quite  five  years  old,  ate  a  great  number ;  two  elder 
daughters  ate  less.  All  went  to  bed  afterwards,  apparently 
well.  All  were  taken  ill ;  in  the  two  boys,  the  symptoms  of 
poisoning  appeared  in  all  their  force  ;  restlessness  and  delirium, 
attempts  to  escape,  so  that  they  were  constantly  obliged  to  be 
forcibly  confined  to  their  beds ;  continual  motions  of  the  hands 
and  fingers,  and  desire  to  lay  hold  of  the  coverings ;  acute  de- 
lirium, but  the  wanderings  only  on  lively  subjects ;  actual 
vision  almost  gone,  but  at  the  same  time  both  the  boys  fancied 
they  beheld  a  crowd  of  objects ;  extreme  dilatation  and  insen- 
sibility of  the  pupils ;  the  eyeballs  alternately  fixed  and  roll- 
ing ;  spasmodic  actions  of  the  muscles  of  the  face,  grinding  of 
the'  teeth,  yawning ;  voice,  hoarse  and  weak ;  slight  swelling 
of  the  left  side  of  the  throat,  and  burning  sensation  in  the 
oesophagus,  (in  the  elder  of  the  two  boys ;)  decided  aversion  to 
all  sorts  of  liquids  in  both,  and  spasmodic  attacks  whenever 
they  were  forced  to  swallow  any  thing.  The  symptoms  pre- 
sented as  will  be  seen,  some  analogy  to  mania,  (delirium  with- 
out fever,)  for  the  vascular  system  was  neither  locally  nor 
generally  excited,  and  the  respiration  was  not  sensibly  dis- 
turbed." 

The  provings  which  Hahnemann  has  given  us  of  Bella- 
donna contain  fourteen   hundred   and  forty  symptoms.     Its 


THE   PROVINGS   OF  HOMEOPATHY.  21 

continued  daily  use  in  homceopathic  practice  testifies  to  its 
admirable  powers  as  a  remedy. 


CARBONATE   OF  AMMONIA. 

This  salt  (sal- volatile)  is  daily  had  recourse  to  as  a  stimu- 
lant and  anti-spasmodic,  either  as  applied  to  the  nostrils,  or 
taken  internally,  diluted  with  water.  Its  immediate,  tempo- 
rary effect  is  relied  upon  for  these  purposes ;  when  taken  in 
excess  it  acts  as  a  very  powerful  poison  ;  several  cases  of  death 
caused  by  it  are  on  record ;  one,  reported  by  Dr.  Christison, 
"where  a  strong  dose  of  the  solution  killed  a  man  in  four 
minutes"  When  taken  in  smaller  quantities,  and  repeatedly, 
it  has  a  penetrating  action  upon  the  constitution,  very  different 
from  that  of  Aconite,  Arsenic,  or  Belladonna,  but  equally 
characteristic.  This  action  points  it  out  as  the  most  valuable 
remedy  in  similar  cases  of  disease ;  for  example,  in  that  bad 
form  of  scarlet  fever,  where  the  rash  appears  only  partially,  or 
soon  recedes,  the  throat  is  ulcerated,  and  the  strength  rapidly 
fails ;  a  form  which  is  commonly  fatal,  and  for  which,  Bella- 
donna is  not  at  all  adapted.  I  have  seen  Carbonate  of  Am- 
monia apparently  save  life  under  such  alarming  circumstances. 

Hahnemann  tells  us  that  this  drug  was  proved  by  himself, 
and  by  Doctors  Hartlaub,  Gross,  Stapf,  Trinks,  and 
Schreter.  The  following  case  from  an  old  author,  Huxiiam, 
gives,  in  few  words,  a  very  striking  picture  of  the  diseased 
condition  which  is  characteristic  of  this  poison,  and  to  which 
it  corresponds  as  a  remedy. 

"I  had  lately  under  my  care  a  gentleman  of  fortune  and 
family,  who  so  habituated  himself  to  the  use  of  vast  quanti- 
ties of  the  volatile  salts  that  ladies  commonly  smell  to,  that  at 
length  he  would  eat  them,  in  a  very  astonishing  manner,  as 
other  people  eat  sugared  carraway  seeds — a  SpLfiixpayia  with  a 
vengeance!  The  consequence  soon  was,  that  he  brought  <>n 
a  hectic  fever,  vast  haemorrhages  from  the  intestines,  nose,  and 
gums,  every  one  of  his  teeth  dropt  out,  and  he  could  eat  no- 
thing solid;  he  wasted  vastly  in  his  flesh,  and  his  mm 
became  as  soft  and  flabby  as  those  of  a  new-born  infant ;  and 
broke  out  all  over  his  body  in  pustules,  which  itched  most 
intolerably,  so  that  he  scratched  himself  continually,  and 
his  skin  with  his  nails  in  a  very  shocking  manner;  the  secre- 
tion of  the  kidneys  was  always  exc 
turbid,  and  very  fetid.  He  was  at  last,  witli  great  difficulty, 
persuaded  to  leave  this  pernicious  custom,  but  he  had  so 
effectually  ruined  his  constitution  that,  though  he  rubbed  on 


22  THE   PROVINGS   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

in  a  very  miserable  manner  for  several  months,  lie  died  tabid, 
and  in  the  highest  degree  of  a  marasmus."* 

I  commenced  with  the  remark,  that  if  drugs  are  to  be  used 
as  remedies  for  diseases,  some  means  must  be  adopted  to  dis- 
cover their  healing  powers.  The  observation  of  the  effects  oj 
these  drugs  in  health,  is  the  best  method  for  this  purpose,  hith- 
erto made  known. 

The  pictures  of  these  effects  given  in  the  latter  pages,  have 
no  pretensions  to  be  perfect ;  they  are  merely  sketches,  offered 
as  illustrations.  Among  the  omissions  are  the  moral  symp- 
toms, these  forming  a  subject  too  extensive  to  be  entered  upon 
in  this  Essay.  The  details  given  are  sufficient  to  explain 
what  kind  of  materials  are  required ;  how  they  are  to  be  ob- 
tained; and  the  valuable  use  which  may  be  made  of  them,  in 
the  treatment  of  disease  according  to  the  principle  similia  sim- 
ilibus  curantur. 

Rugby,  June  1th,  1854. 

*  Huxham's  Works,  p.  308. 


Gratis  on  |jomivouaiijg.-^o. 

11 

THE  SINGLE  MEDICINE 

OF 

HOMCEOPATHY. 

BY    WILLIAM    SHARP,    M.D.,    F. 

U.S. 

JSixij)    (Sbiiion. 

F.    E.    BOERIOKE: 

HAHNEMANN    PUBLISHING    HOUSE, 

PHILADELPHIA. 

US0  that  he  saw  plainly  that  opinion  of  store  was  a  cause  of  want." 

\Loni)  Bacon 


TIIK 


SINGLE    MEDICINE    OF    IIOMCEOPATIIY 


'More  is  in  vain  when  less  will  serve,  for  nature  is  pleased  with  simplicity." 

Sir  Isaac  Newton. 


Truth  was  well  feigned  by  the  ancients  to  lie  at  the  bottom 
of  a  well.  The  progress  which  mankind  has  made  in  the  dis- 
covery of  truth  has  been  remarkably  slow.  The  department  of 
magnetism  may  serve  as  an  illustration  of  this  fact.  The  attrac- 
tion of  magnetic  iron  was  known  to  the  ancients,  but  nothing 
more  ;  it's,  polarity  was  not  known,  at  least  in  Europe,  till  1180, 
when  it  was  first  described  by  Guyot  ;  the  practical  application 
of  this  property  to  navigation  in  the  mariner's  compass  lingered 
till  about  1260  ;  the  variation  in  the  direction  of  the  magnetic 
needle  in  different  parts  of  the  earth,  was  unknown  until  1500, 
when  it  was  discovered  by  Sebastian  Cabot  ;  the  dip  of  the 
needle  remained  a  secret  till  noticed  by  Eobert  No k max  in 
1576  ;  two  centuries  and  a  half  elapsed  before  the  changed  di- 
rection of  the  needle  by  a  current  of  electricity  was  discovered 
by  (Ersted  in  1819,  which  fact,  it  is  well  known,  has  now  been 
applied  practically  in  the  ehctric  telegraph.  It  is  evident  from 
these  particulars  that  in  this,  as  in  many  other  branches  of  na- 
tural knowledge,  the  advancement,  though  slow,  is  real ;  there 
is  the  great  encouragement  that  progress  is  being  modi  ;  but  in 
the  department  of  medicine  this  encouragement  has  hitherto 
been  wanting.  From  time  to  time  experienced  physicians  have 
not  been  backward  to  acknowledge  that  little  improvement, 
worthy  of  the  name,  has  taken  place  in  the  practice  of  physic, 
since  the  days  of  Hippocrates,  a  period  of  about  twenty-live 
hundred  years. 

The  almost  stationary  condition  of  the  science  of  medicine 
has  arisen,  not  only  from  the  natural  impedimenta  to  the  dis- 
covery of  truth,  and  from  the  difficulties  peculiar  to  this  sub- 
ject, but  still  more  from  the  want  of  simplicity  in  the  method 
pursued. 


4  THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

Tliis  metliod  has  been  defective  in  two  principal  particulars, 
by  which  the  progress  of  knowledge  in  the  treatment  of  disease 
has  been  effectually  hindered.  One  of  these  defects  has  been 
the  trial  of  a  drug  only  during  the  existence  of  disease,  by 
which  its  effects  are  complicated  and  obscured  ;  instead  of  first 
experimenting  with  it  on  the  body  in  a  state  of  health,  when 
its  own  symptoms  would  appear,  unmixed  with  those  of  dis- 
ease. The  other  equally  great  defect  has  been  the  giving  of 
the  drug  in  combination  with  others,  by  which  its  effects  are 
still  further  complicated  and  obscured,  if  not  altogether  anti- 
doted  and  prevented ;  instead  of  administering  it  alone,  so 
that  its  specific  action  might  be  produced  without  let  or  inter- 
ference. Had  physicians  adopted  these  two  proceedings — ex- 
perimenting in  health,  and  giving  the  medicine  singly  in  dis- 
ease— the  real  properties  of  each  drug  might  have  been,  ere 
this,  accurately  ascertained. 

The  first  of  these  defects  in  the  practice  of  physic  I  have 
discussed  in  my  last  essay,  (Tract  No.  10.)  The  second  re- 
mains to  be  the  subject  of  the  present.     I  have  to  establish 

The  fact  of  combination.  All  drugs  being  poisons,  it 
might  have  been  anticipated  that,  in  using  them  as  remedies, 
the  plan  to  be  adopted  would  have  been  to  try  cautiously  each 
one  by  itself,  in  the  hope  that,  by  so  doing,  some  positive 
knowledge  might  be  obtained  respecting  its  medicinal  virtues. 
This  knowledge  once  had  would  be  serviceable  to  all  future 
ages,  and  a  stepping-stone  to  further  advances.  But  the  fact 
has  not  been  so  ;  the  plan  universally  adopted  has  been  that  of 
combining  several  of  these  drugs  together,  and  administering 
tb  em  to  the  sick  thus  combined. 

The  mixing  and  combining  of  many  drugs  in  one  prescrip- 
tion, has  indeed  given  "  an  opinion  of  store"  of  virtues ;  but 
by  this  method  it  has  been  impossible  to  discover  the  distin- 
gi  listing  properties  of  any  of  the  substances  so  employed,  and 
consequently  our  acquaintance  with  the  Materia  Medica  has 
been  kept  in  confusion  and  poverty ;  and  thus  this  opinion  of 
store  has  been  eminently  "  a  cause  of  want." 

The  extent  to  which  the  accumulation  of  remedies  in  a  sin- 
gle prescription  has  been  carried  would  be  incredible,  were  it 
not  a  fact  readily  ascertained.  Not  to  notice  the  extreme  cases 
which  have  been  recorded,  such  as  the  one  mentioned  by  Dr. 
Paris,  of  four  hundred  ingredients  entering  into  the  composi- 
tion of  a  single  mixture,  I  will  give,  as  examples,  two  very 
celebrated  medicines,  as  prescribed  in  the  London  Pharmaco- 


THE   SINGLE    MEDICINE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 


peia  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians :  the  Theriaca  Andro- 
machi  or  Venice  Treacle,  and  the  equally  world-famed  remedy 
called  Mdhriilate.  The  former,  as  given  in  the  Pharmacopeia 
of  1682,  contains  sixty -five  ingredients ;  the  latter,  in  thy 
Pharmacopeia  of  1782,  consists  of  fifty  articles,  as  follows  : 


Venice  Treacle. 

$.    Squill  lozenges,    3  viij ;  R. 

Lozenges  of  vipers,  (flesh  and  broth,) 
Long  pepper, 
Opium, 

Lozenges  of  hedyclirourn,  aa  3  xxv; 
Eed  roses, 
Illyrian  orris-root, 
Liquorice-juice, 
Navew  seeds, 
Shoots  of  seordium, 
Balm  of  Gilead, 
Cinnamon, 

Agaric  in  lozenges,  aa  3  xij. 
Myrrh, 

Spikenard  or  zedoary, 
Saffron, 

Wood  of  the  true  cassia, 
Indian  nard, 
Camel's  hay, 
"White  pepper, 
Black  pepper, 
Frankincense, 
Dittany  of  Crete, 
Rhubarb, 
French  Lavender, 
Horehound, 
Parsley, 

Macedonian  stone-parsley, 
Parsley-seed, 
Calamint  (dried,) 
Cinquefoil-root, 
Ginger,  aa  3  vj  ; 
Carrot  of  Crete, 
Ground  pine, 
Celtic  nard, 
Amomum, 
Storax, 
Root  of  meu, 
Germander, 
Pontic  valerian, 
Terra  Lemnia, 
Indian  leaf, 
Green  vitriol, 
Gentian-root, 
Gum  Arabic, 
Juice  of  bypocistis, 
Carpobalsamum, 
Seeds  of  anise, 

"      of  cardamoms, 

11      of  fennel, 

11     of  cicely, 


MlTURIDATE. 

Arabian  myrrh, 
Saffron, 
Agaric, 
Ginger, 
Cinnamon, 
Spikenard, 
Frankincense, 

Seeds  of  penny-cress  aa  3  * ; 
Cicely, 

Opobalsamum, 
Sweet  rush, 
French  lavender, 
Costum, 
Galbanum, 
Cyprian  turpentine, 
Long  pepper, 
Castor, 

Juice  of  bypocistis, 
Storax, 
Opoponax, 
Indian  leaf,  aa  §  j; 
True  cassia  wood, 
Poly  of  the  mountain, 
White  pepper, 
Seordium, 

Seeds  of  the  Cretan  carrot, 
Curpobalsamura, 
Lozenges  of  cyphus, 
Bdellium,  aa  3  vij, 
Celtic  nard,  (purified,) 
Gum  Arabic, 

Seeds  of  the  stone-parsley, 
Opium, 

Lesser  cardamoms, 
Fennel-seeds, 
<  Jriitian, 

Flowers  of  the  rod  rose, 
Dittany  of  Crete,  aa  3  V  ; 
Seeds  of  anise, 
Asurnm, 
Sweet-flag, 
Orris-root, 
Plni, 

Sagapenum,  aa  3  iij, 
Men, 
Acacia, 
Skunk-belliofl, 
St.  Jolin's-wort  tops, 
Canary  wine  enough  to  dissolve  tno 
gums  and  juices,    that   is,  about 
%  xxxvj. 


6  THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE    OF  HOMOEOPATHY. 

Venice  Treacle.  MrrnRiDATE. 

Gum  acacia,  Clarified    honey,    three    times    the 

Seeds  of  penny-cress,  weight  of  all  the  rest  excepting 

Tops  of  St.  John's-wort,  the  wine,  mix  and  make  into  an 

Seeds  of  bishop's- weed,  electuary,  secundum  artem. 

Sagapenum,  aa  3  iv ; 

Castor, 

Root  of  birth  wort, 

Jews'  pitch,  (or  amber,) 

Seeds  of  the  carrot  of  Crete, 

Opoponax, 

Lesser  centaury, 

Thick  galbanum,  aa  3  ij  | 

Canary  wine,  (old,)  §  xl, 

Clarified  honey,  (triple  weight  of 

the  powders,)  mix  and  make 

into    an    electuary,  secundum 

artem. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Pharmacopeias  of  the  17th 
and  18th  centuries ;  and  though  those  of  the  19th  century 
have  made  great  advances  towards  a  comparative  simplicity, 
so  that  the  "  luxuriancy  of  composition,"  so  much  inveighed 
against  by  Cullen,  may  be  said  to  exist  no  longer,  the  radi- 
cal error  still  remains — prescriptions  are  still  notoriously  com- 
pound. Yery  rarely  is  a  remedy  given  alone ;  very  rarely, 
therefore,  can  any  precise  knowledge  of  its  properties  be  dis- 
covered, or  the  full  benefit  of  its  action  on  disease  be  obtained. 
I  proceed  to  notice 

The  theory  of  combination.  The  practice  of  mixing 
drugs  is  not  only  continued,  but  defended.  The  Pharmacolo- 
gia  of  Dr.  Paris,  a  book  which  has  been  very  popular  with 
the  profession  in  Great  Britain,  is  an  elaborate  treatise  "  on  the 
theory  and  art  of  medicinal  combination."  The  volume  opens 
(after  an  introduction)  with  this  sentence  :  "  It  is  a  truth  univer- 
sally admitted  that  the  arm  of  physic  has  derived  much  addition- 
al power  and  increased  energy  from  the  resources  which  are 
furnished  by  the  mixture  and  combination  of  medicinal  bodies." 

For  example: 

"  Emetics  are  more  efficient  when  composed  of  ipecacuan 
united  with  tartarized  antimony  or  sulphate  of  zinc,  than  when 
they  simply  consist  of  any  one  of  such  substances  in  an  equi- 
valent dose." 

"  Cathartics  not  only  acquire  a  very  great  increase  of  power 
by  combination  with  each  other,  but  they  are  at  the  same  time 
rendered  less  irritating  in  their  operation." 

"  Diuretics. — Under  this  class  of  medicinal  agents  it  may  be 
noticed  that  whenever  a  medicine  is  liable  to  produce  effects 


THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF   HOMCEOPATriY.  7 

different  from  those  we  desire,  its  combination  with  similar 
remedies  is  particularly  eligible." 

"  Diaphoretics. — Oar  maxim,  '  vis  unitafortiorf  certainly  ap- 
plies with  equal  truth  and  force  to  this  class  of  medicinal 
agents." 

"  Xa rcolics. — The  intention  of  allaying  irritation  and  pain 
will  be  better  fulfilled  by  a  combination  of  these  substances 
in  different  proportions,  than  by  any  single  one,  notwithstand- 
ing its  dose  be  considerably  increased." 

It  is  admitted  that  it  is  better  not  to  mix  Stimulants,  and  it 
is  remarked  that  u  by  multiplying  the  number  of  ingredients 
too  far  we  shall  either  so  increase  the  quantity  and  bulk  of  the 
medieine  as  to  render  it  nauseous  and  cumbersome,  or  so  re- 
duce the  dose  of  each  constituent  as  to  fritter  away  the  force 
and  energy  of  the  combination.  There  is  also  another  import- 
ant precaution  which  demands  our  most  serious  attention,  that 
in  combining  substances  in  the  manner,  and  for  the  object  just 
related,  the  practitioner  should  be  well  satisfied  that  their  medi- 
cinal virtues  are  in  reality  practically  similar,  or  he  will  fall  into 
an  error  of  the  most  fatal  tendency." 

Such  is  the  leading  feature  of  the  theory  of  combination ; 
the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  which,  as  hinted  at  in  the  last 
paragraph  quoted  from  Dr.  Pakis,  are  so  many  and  so  great  as 
to  destroy  all  confidence  in  its  value.  But  the  practice  found- 
ed upon  it  is  so  general  that  it  is  needful  to  consider 

The  evils  of  combination.  One  of  these  I  have  already 
alluded  to ;  it  is  obvious  that  the  mixing  of  different  drugs,  and 
administering  them  together,  must  hinder  the  discovery  of  their 
respective  properties.  Our  knowledge  must  continue  to  be 
ignorance,  so  long  as  this  praetice  continues  to  be  pursued.  It 
is  then  a  serious  evil  which  attaches  to  the  usual  method  of 
prescribing  that  it  is 

A  bar  to  progress.  It  is  an  observation  of  Boyle  that  "there 
is  no  one  thing  in  nature  whereof  the  uses  to  human  lii 
yet  thoroughly  understood."  How  true  soever  this  may  be  in 
reference  to  other  matters  it  is  truer  still  in  referen  ■<•  to  medi- 
cines. There  is  not  a  single  drug  of  which  it  can  be  said  that 
the  characteristic  properties  and  the  fitting  uses  are  thorough- 
ly known;  and  so  long  as  these  drugs  are  given  only  while 
disease  is  present,  and  only  in  combination  with  each  other,  it 
is  evident  that  their  properties  and  uses  can  never  be  really 
understood.  How  urgent  then  the  call  for  a  new  method,  if 
we  would  not  have  our  present  ignorance  indefinitely  pro- 
longed I 

OF  THB 


8  THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF  HOMCEOPATHY. 

A  hindrance  to  the  curative  action  of  drugs  is  another  evil  of 
their  combination.  On  this  subject  I  need  not  do  much  more 
than  quote  Dr.  Paris. 

"Simplicity  should  be  regarded  by  the  physician  as  the 
greatest  desideratum.  I  was  once  told  by  a  practitioner  in  the 
country,  (Dr.  Paeis  might  have  added,  that  there  are  practi- 
tioners in  London  also,  who  act  upon  the  same  plan,)  that  the 
quantity,  or  rather  the  complexity  of  the  medicines  which  he 
gave  his  patients,  for  there  never  was  any  deficiency  in  the 
former,  was  always  increased  in  a  ratio  with  the  obscurity  of 
their  cases ;  'if,'  said  he,  '  I  fire  a  great  profusion  of  shot,  it  is 
very  extraordinary  if  some  do  not  hit  the  mark.'  A  patient 
in  the  hands  of  such  a  practitioner  has  not  a  much  better 
chance  than  a  Chinese  mandarin,  who,  upon  being  attacked 
with  any  disorder,  calls  in  twelve  or  more  physicians,  and 
swallows  in  one  mixture  all  the  potions  which  each  separately 
prescribes ! 

"  Let  not  the  young  practitioner,  however,  be  so  deceived  ; 
he  should  remember  that  unless  he  be  well  acquainted  with  the 
mutual  actions  which  bodies  exert  upon  each  other,  and  upon 
the  living  system,  (which  no  one,  as  yet,  is  acquainted  with,) 
it  may  be  laid  down  as  an  axiom,  that  in  proportion  as  he  com- 
plicates a  medicine,  he  does  but  multiply  the  chances  of  its  failure. 
Superflua  nunquam  non  nocent :  let  him  cherish  this  maxim 
in  remembrance,  and  in  forming  compounds,  always  discard 
from  them  every  element  which  has  not  its  mode  of  action 
clearly  defined,  and  as  thoroughly  understood." 

Yes ;  let  the  young  physician  follow  the  advice  here  given 
by  Dr.  Paeis,  (the  living  official  head  of  our  profession  in  this 
country),  and  cherish  this  maxim  in  remembrance ;  and  he 
will  infallibly  be  led  to  prescribe  but  one  medicine  at  a  time  ;  for 
of  no  compound  can  it  be  said  that  its  mode  of  action  is  either 
clearly  defined,  or  thoroughly  understood. 

An  injury  to  the  patient  is  also  by  no  means  an  unfrequent  evil 
resulting  from  the  prevailing  practice  of  mixing  drugs  together, 
and  thus  complicating,  often  beyond  control,  their  operation 
on  the  living  body — sometimes  until  it  lives  no  longer.  "  The 
mildest  remedy,"  says  Dr.  Paeis,  "  may  thus  (by  injudicious 
combination)  be  converted  into  an  instrument  of  torture,  and 
even  of  death.''1 

That  patients  often  suffer  serious  injuries  from  drugs  is,  un- 
happily, a  fact  too  notorious  to  require  proof.  Dr.  Routh, 
the  present  President  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  who  has 
entered  his  hundredth  year,  takes  pains  to  impress  upon  his 
friends  the  axiom  of  Loed  Bacon,  that  "  medicines  shorteD 


THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY.  9 

life,"  and  bids  them  beware  bow  they  meddle  with  such  in- 
jurious substances. 

It  is  not  unusual  now,  when  a  patient  has  been  cured  under 
Homoeopathic  treatment,  for  physicians  to  attempt  to  turn  the 
force  of  such  evidence  in  favor  of  Homoeopathy,  by  remarking 
that  "  the  patient  has  got  well  by  leaving  off  medicine!"  But 
what  a  satire  upon  themselves  is  such  an  admission  as  this! 
Are  they  really  conscious  then  that  the  medicines  they  are  so 
eager  to  prescribe  from  day  to  day,  and  for  the  continuance  of 
which  they  contend  so  earnestly — are  they  conscious  that  these 
medicines  prevent  the  recovery  of  their  patients  ?  Are  they 
content  that  the  matter  should  be  thus  viewed  by  the  public  ? 
That  the  effect  of  taking  their  prescriptions  is  to  lengthen  out 
disease — to  prolong  the  patient's  sufferings?  Are  they  so 
driven  into  a  corner  by  the  evidence  in  favor  of  Homoeopathy, 
that  they  have  no  better  weapon  to  defend  themselves  with 
than  such  an  argument  as  this  ? 

I  proceed  to  consider  the  method  now  proposed  of  using 

A  single  medicine  at  A  time.  Each  drug  has  a  mode  of 
action  peculiar  to  itself,  often  called  its  specific  action  ;  to  ob- 
tain the  full  benefit  of  this  action  it  must  be  given  alone ;  any 
combination  must  necessarily  interfere  with,  and  may  altoge- 
ther neutralize  the  effect  we  wish  to  obtain. 

It  is  most  plain  that  when  we  speak  of  a  drug  being  thus 
given  alone,  we  mean  the  drug  as  it  usually  exists  in  nature ; 
and  especially  must  it  be  in  the  same  state  as  that  in  which  it 
has  been  previously  proved  in  health.  The  various  solids ;  the 
metalsfor  example,  and  the  metallic  oxides,  lime,  silica,  alumina, 
sulphur,  and  saline  bodies,  the  resins,  the  seeds  and  other  solid 
parts  of  plants  ;  the  various  liquids  ;  the  mineral  acids  for  ex- 
ample, and  the  vegetable  juices,  furnish  a  vasl  array  of  drugs  l;  >r 
medicinal  purposes.  Each  of  these,  in  its  turn,  can  be  experi- 
mented upon  by  itself  in  health;  and,  in  like  manner,  each  in 
its  turn  can  be  given  alone  as  a  remedy  in  disease.  WTiether 
in  chemistry  these  various  substances  art'  ;it  present  considered 
elements  or  compounds  can  have  no  bearing  upon  their  thera- 
peutic use.  The  consideration  of  their  chemical  nature  and 
properties  is  quite  another  matter,  and  though  very  important 
and  interesting  in  itself,  and  witli  reference  to  chemical  b  : 
can  neither  help  nor  hinder  much  in  respect  to  their  action 
upon  the  living  body  as  poisons  or  remedies.  In  saying  this,  I 
must  not  be  misunderstood,  or  be  supposed  to  depreciate  chem- 
istry, or  its  legitimate  application  to  pharmacy,  or  toany other 
collateral  branch  of  knowledge.     I  am  myself  fond  of  chen?- 


10  THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF   HOMOEOPATHY. 

istiy,  and  glad]y  avail  myself  of  any  help  it  can  render  to 
medicine  ;  what  I  wish  to  remark  at  present  is,  that  the  use  of 
a  drug  singly  and  alone,  either  in  proving  it  in  health,  or  in 
prescribing  it  in  disease,  has  no  reference,  and  it  is  plain  can 
have  no  reference  to  the  light  in  which  such  drug  is  viewed  by  the 
chemist. 

It  might  be  safely  asserted  that  nothing  can  be  more  con- 
spicuously apparent  than  this ;  what  then  must  be  the  charac- 
ter of  the  opposition  to  Homoeopathy,  when  a  learned  professor, 
and  the  most  considerable  writer  on  the  subject,  is  compelled 
to  have  recourse  to  the  following  statement  as  an  argument 
against  Homoeopathy  ? 

Professor  Simpson  quotes  from  the  Organon  of  Hahnemann  : 
"  In  no  case  is  it  requisite  to  administer  more  than  one  single, 
simple  medicinal  substance  at  one  time,"  and  then  says  :  "  But 
in  few  or  no  instances  can  the  Homoeopaths,  if  they  follow 
their  own  laws,  give  a  single  substance  as  a  medicine  at  one 
time.  Take  one  drug  as  an  example  of  this  remark.  Opium, 
according  to  Jahk,  is,  in  Homoeopathic  practice,  '  a  medicament 
frequently  indicated'  in  disorders  of  various  kinds.  Opium, 
however,  is  not  a  simple  substance ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  it 
is  extremely  composite  in  its  character,  according  to  the  re- 
searches of  many  excellent  chemists.  'It  contains,'  says 
Chkistison,  'no  fewer  than  seven  chrystalline  principles, 
called  (1)  morphia,  (2)  codeia,  (3)  paramorphia,  (4)  narcotin, 
(5)  narcem,  (6)  porphyroxin,  and  (7)  meconin,  of  which  the 
first  three  are  alkaline,  and  the  others  neutral ;  secondly,  a 
peculiar  acid  termed  (8)  me  :onic  acid,  which  constitutes  with 
sulphuric  acid,  the  solvent  of  the  active  principle;  and  thirdly, 
a  variety  of  comparatively  unimportant  ingredients,  such  as 
(9)  gum,  (10)  albumen,  (11)  resin,  (12)  fixed  oil,  (13)  a  trace 
perhaps  of  volatile  oil,  (14)  lignin,  (15)  caoutchouc,  (16)  ex- 
tractive matter,  and  numerous  salts  of  inorganic  bases.'  Of 
these  inorganic  salts  and  substances  in  opium,  Schindler,  in 
his  analysis,  detected  among  others,  (17)  phosphate  of  lime, 
(18)  alumina,  (19)  silica,  (20)  magnesia,  (21)  oxide  of  iron, 
ets.  Homeopaths,  in  using  therefore  this  '  frequently  indi- 
cated' medicament,  opium,  employ  a  preparation  which  is 
certainly  not  single,  but  consists  at  least  of  some  twenty 
different  substances."* 

When  my  second  Tract,  "  The  Defense  of  Homoeopathy," 
was  written,  the  best  work  which,  up  to  that  period,  had  ap- 

*  "  Homoeopathy,  its  Tenets  and  Tendencies,"  by  Dr.  Simpson,  Professor  of 
Midwifery  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  etc.     p.  47. 


THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY.  11 

peared  in  England  against  Homoeopathy — Dr.  C.  F.  EouTn's 
"  Fallacies" — was  selected.  When  Dr.  Simpson's  book  ap- 
peared, I  thought  it  would  demand  a  reply,  but  after  reading 
it,  I  felt  that  it  did  not  deserve  one,  and  I  think  that  even  my 
brethren  of  the  old  practice  will  admit  that  I  stand  excused 
in  this  feeling.  A  writer  who  can  not  distinguish  between 
the  single  medicine  of  the  Homoeopath ist,  and  the  elements, 
organic  or  inorganic,  of  the  modern  chemist ;  or  who  is  so 
disingenuous  as  knowingly  to  attempt  to  confound  them  in 
the  minds  of  his  readers,  is  unworthy  of  notice.  I  will  not 
take  upon  myself  the  duty,  which  belongs  to  Dr.  Simpson's 
conscience,  to  decide  upon  which  of  the  horns  of  this  dilemma 
he  deserves  to  be  impaled ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  suppress  a  feel- 
ing of  indignation,  which  involuntarily  rises  on  reading  the 
passage  I  have  extracted,  in  an  author  of  such  pretensions, 
and  professing  to  be  seriously  discussing  the  merits  of  a  new 
method  of  treating  the  maladies  of  mankind. 

In  Homeopathy  the  giving  of  only  one  medicine  at  a  time 
is  a  matter  of  necessity.  The  law  can  not  be  otherwise  ap- 
plied.    Let  me  now  endeavor  to  point  out 

The  advantages  of  this  method.  From  these  advan- 
tages it  will  appear  that  the  objects  acknowledged  to  have 
been  sought  for,  but  which  are  unattained,  and,  it  may  fairly 
be  presumed,  are  unattainable,  in  the  common  mode  of  treat- 
ing diseases,  are  not  only  put  within  reach,  but  are  actually 
accomplished  by  the  new  treatment. 

The  simplicity,  in  vain  desired  by  Dr.  Paris  for  his  method, 
is  thus  obtained.  A  small  dose  of  a  single  medicine  is  to  be 
administered,  and  time  allowed  for  its  effects  t<>  be  produced, 
before  either  another  dose  is  given,  or  another  medicine  is 
tried.  The  simplicity  which  the  law  of  Homoeopathy  has  in- 
troduced into  the  prescriptions  of  the  physician  is  worthy  of 
great  admiration — the  one  is  a  accessary  consequence  of  the 
other.  "So  far,"  says  Sir  Jon.v  HerscHEL,  "as  our  expe- 
rience has  hitherto  gone,  every  advance  towards  gi  nerality  bias, 
at  the  same  time,  been  a  step  towards  simplification."  It  de- 
serves to  be  noticed  how  greal  ;i  step  in  this  direction  has  been 
taken  in  the  present  instance. 

T lie  progress  in  vain  waited  lor  on  the  old  method  is  rendered 
inevitable  by  the  new  one.     The  ignorance  on  the  subject  <>f 
the  properties  of  drugs  which  has  prevailed  for  so  man* 
turies,  will  no  longer  continue ;    a  much  more  extensiv 
corre  -t  knowledge  of  them  has  already  be  m  acquired,  and  this 
knowledge  will  be  dail y  extended.     I  am  not  afraid  t«> 


12  THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

that  I  have  learned  more  of  the  properties  and  healing  powers 
of  the  various  articles  of  the  Materia  Medica,  during  the  three 
years  that  I  have  been  a  Homoeopath ist,  than  I  did  during  the 
thirty  that  I  was  engaged  in  the  usual  method  of  prescribing 
drugs.  How  interesting  it  is  to  collect  accurate  details  of  the 
effects  of  drugs  when  acting  as  poisons ;  and  how  beautiful  to 
observe  their  curative  action  in  corresponding  natural  diseases ! 
There  is  now  every  thing  to  reward,  and  therefore  every  thing 
to  encourage  the  diligent  study  of  the  properties  of  drugs ;  and 
this  study  can  not  be  diligently  pursued,  aided  as  it  now  is  by 
so  simple  and  precise  a  method,  without  yielding  the  fruits  of 
progressive  knowledge.  Take,  for  instance,  a  plant  like  aco- 
nite, or  belladonna,  or  pulsatilla,  or  ipecacuanha,  and  contrast 
the  knowledge  of  it  which  the  Homceopathist  now  possesses 
with  what  was  known  of  it  before;  and  let  it  be  remembered 
that,  in  a  few  years,  every  remaining  drug  may  be  equally 
well,  or  even  better  understood. 

The  curative  effect  of  each  drug,  often  in  vain  expected  when 
other  drugs  are  mingled  with  it,  may  be  looked  for  with  a 
great  degree  of  certainty,  when  it  is  given  alone  in  an  appro- 
priate dose. 

It  is  Dr.  Paris  who  asserts  that  "the  file  of  every  apothe- 
cary would  furnish  a  volume  of  instances,  where  the  ingre- 
dients are  fighting  together  in  the  dark,  or  at  least,  are  so  ad- 
verse to  each  other,  as  to  constitute  a  most  incongruous  and 
chaotic  mass." 

"  Obstabat  aliis  aliud  :  quia  corpore  in  uno 
Frigida  pugnabant  calidis,  humentia  siceis, 
Mollia  cum  duris,  sine  pondere,  babentia  pondus." 

Ovid. 

This  error  can  be  eliminated  only  by  resorting  to  the  method 
of  prescribing  each  remedy  singly.  There  can  then  be  no 
neutralizing,  or  counteracting,  or  antidoti rig  effects;  no  "light- 
ing together  in  the  dark,"  so  aptly  described,  and  so  ingenu- 
ously confessed  by  Dr.  Paris.  It  is  true  this  description  is 
intended  to  apply  only  to  the  prescriptions  of  certain  ill-in- 
formed or  careless  practitioners;  but,  though  not  intended  to 
do  so,  it  really  applies,  with  more  or  less  force,  to  every  mix- 
ture or  combination  of  drugs. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  single  medicine  meets  with  no  im- 
pediment (at  least  not  from  other  medicines)  to  the  produc- 
tion of  its  full  effect.  Suppose,  for  example,  that  the  action  of 
mercury  is  required  on  an  ulcerated  throat,  or  on  the  salivary 
glands  in  a  case  of  mumps;    if  given  alone,  a  very  minute 


THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  IS 

quantity  will  almost  certainly  act.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
any  other  drug;  its  specific  effect  will  be  produced  by  the 
small  dose,  if  given  alone,  with  much  more  precision  and  cer- 
tainty, than  by  the  large  dose,  if  given  in  combination.  When 
the  small  dose  is  used,  as  there  is  no  need  to  combine  with  it 
the  "adjuvans"  to  assist,  nor  the  "dirigens"  to  direct,  so  neither 
is  there  need  of  the  "corrigens"  to  prevent  mischief.  Soap 
need  not  be  added  to  aloes  and  jalap  to  "mitigate  their  acri- 
mony ;"  nor  need  patients  be  ordered  to  drink  vinegar,  to  pre- 
vent their  being  poisoned  by  sugar  of  lead,  given  to  stop  a 
bleeding  from  the  lungs. 

The  diminution  of  the  dose,  in  vain  attempted  while  several 
drugs  are  combined,  is  accomplished  to  an  extent  beyond  all 
anticipation,  by  giving  each  drug  alone.  It  may  be  true  that 
by  adding  tarfcir  emetic  to  ipecacuanha  vomiting  is  produced  by 
a  smaller  quantity  of  each,  than  would  be  required  of  either  of 
them  separately;  but  the  combined  dose  is  not  only  still  large, 
but  so  large  as  not  to  be  secure  from  doing  mischief.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  purgatives,  expectorants,  diaphoretics,  as  quoted 
from  Dr.  Paris.  With  our  present  knowledge,  such  proceed- 
ings can  not  escape  being  viewed  as  barbarous  ;  these  violent 
effects  of  medicines  being  altogether  needless,  while  the  speci- 
fic action  of  the  drug,  the  effect  which  is  really  of  value  in  the 
treatment  of  disease,  can  be  best  obtained  by  a  very  small 
dose.  All  drugs  being  poisons,  not  only  is  "more  in  vain," 
but  more  is  positively  injurious  "when  less  will  serve." 

The  indications  of  treatment,  in  vain  sought  after  on  the  old 
method,  are  not  only  precise  and  unmistakable  on  the  new, 
but,  as  the  medicines,  so  also  the  indications,  are  reduced  to  one. 

The  single  remedy  obliges  the  single  indication ;  for  if  only 
one  medicine  is  to  be  given,  there  can  be  but  one  indication  to 
point  it  out;  and,  if  possible,  the  single  indication  is  a  greater 
simplification,  and  a  greater  advantage  than  the  single  remedy. 
In  the  treatment  of  disease  on  the  usual  method,  even  when 
the  symptoms  are  simple  and  uniform,  or  consistent  with  each 
other,  the  supposed  indications  are  generally  more  or  less  <■(  im- 
plicated; in  cases  of  more  extensive  derangement,  they  are 
still  more  numerous,  and  Bometimes  even  contradictory.  The 
perplexity  and  anxiety  to  the  physician,  and  the  additional 
pain  and  exhaustion  to  the  patient,  which  are  the  natural  re- 
sults of  this  complication,  are  often  greater  than  can  readily  be 
described.  In  illustration,  I  will  take  a  case  of  the  simplest 
kind.  For  example,  laryngismus  stridulus,  or  the  asthma  of 
Millar — an  affection  of  considerable  danger,  to  which  some  in- 
fants are  very  subject,  and  consisting  mainly  of  a  distressing 


14  THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF  HOMOEOPATHY. 

struggle  for  breath,  coming  on  suddenly,  and  producing  a 
flushed  and  swollen  countenance,  which  becomes  sometimes 
almost  black,  threatening  suffocation. 

The  indications  for  treatment  I  will  copy  from  Mason 
Good  ;  of  whose  book  it  has  been  said,  by  a  late  President  of 
the  Koj^al  College  of  Surgeons,  and  the  most  useful  writer  on 
Surgery  of  the  present  day,  "it  is  so  excellent  that  no  other 
modern  system  is,  on  the  whole,  half  so  valuable  as  the  '  Study 
of  Medicine.'  "  The  indications  are  these :  to  produce  vomit- 
ing by  an  antimonial  emetic ;  to  cause  perspiration  by  a  warm 
bed,  diluent  drinks,  and  the  same  medicine;  to  excite  the 
bowels  by  a  purgative  of  calomel ;  to  allay  the  irritability  of 
the  nervous  system  by  giving  laudanum  in  proportion  to  the 
age  of  the  patient ;  and  to  produce  counter-irritation  by  apply- 
ing a  blister  to  the  throat. 

This  is  a  fair  specimen  of  Allopathic  treatment ;  let  us  analyse 
it  for  a  moment,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  age  of  the  little  suf- 
ferer is  generally  only  a  few  months;  and  that  the  ailment  is  an 
affection  of  the  upper  part  of.  the  windpipe,  producing  such  a 
contraction  of  it  as  threatens  suffocation,  all  the  other  parts  of 
the  body  b  ing  healthy.  We  can  not  but  be  struck,  in  the  first 
place,  with  the  terrible  severity  of  the  treatment,  which  alone 
is  sufficient,  not  only  to  expose  it  to  just  censure,  but  to  de- 
mand its  abandonment ;  and  in  the  next  place,  with  the  fact 
that  all  the  indications  of  treatment  are  direct  and  violent  at- 
tacks upon  the  healthy  parts  of  the  body.  "  Produce  vomiting 
by  an  antimonial  emetic ;"  here  is  an  attack  upon  the  stomach, 
but  the  stomach  was  previously  in  health ;  why  produce  such 
a  commotion  in  it,  in  a  baby  three  or  four  months  old  ?  "  Cause 
perspiration  by  a  warm  bed,  diluent  drinks  and  the  antimony;" 
here  the  skin  is  assailed,  and  its  natural  secretions  are  to  be 
unhealthily  stimulated ;  the  skin  was  previously  in  a  sound 
condition  ;  why  interfere  with  and  derange  that  state?  "Ex- 
cite the  bowels  by  a  purgative  of  calomel."  The  others  were 
but  the  wings  of  the  invading  army,  this  is  its  centre.  The 
poor  bowels  are  always  destined  to  bear  the  fiercest  part  of 
the  "energetic"  assault.  And  calomel,  too — that  destructive 
weapon  in  the  bowels  of  an  infant,  and  these  bowels  previous- 
ly in  perfect  health.  The  liver  does  not  escape ;  mercury,  it  is 
well  known,  acts  powerfully  on  this  organ.  The  calomel  given 
in  infancy  not  unfrequently  produces,  as  its  secondary  effect, 
a  torpor  of  the  liver,  which  lasts  for  years;  it  sometimes  de- 
stroys altogether  the  constitution  of  the  child.  "Allay  the  irri- 
tability of  the  nervous  system  by  giving  laudanum  in  propor- 
tion to  the  age  of  the  patient.      The  effect  of  opium  is  to 


THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  15 

stupefy  or  deaden  the  sensibilities  of  the  whole  nervous  system; 
if  pushed  far  enough,  to  produce  coma  and  apoplexy.  In  this 
case  it  must  depress  the  vital  powers  at  the  moment  when 
their  vigor  is  needed  to  struggle  with  the  difficulty  of  breath- 
ing. And  why  assault  thus  the  whole  nervous  system,  as  yet 
remaining  in  health?  "Produce  counter-irritation  by  apply- 
ing a  blister  to  the  throat."  Alas !  poor  baby,  the  unoffending 
skin  is  to  be  inflamed  until  it  blisters  !  And  this  is  the  con- 
cluding blow,  for  the  present,  of  a  treatment  which  is  called 
"judicious"  and  "active"  because  it  is  customary;  but  will  it 
bear  investigation  ? 

Thus  every  healthy  part  of  the  body  is  to  be  disturbed  in 
its  natural  action,  to  be  excited,  disordered,  inflamed,  and  stu- 
pefied ;  all  these  ailments,  necessarily  more  or  less  overpower- 
ing to  the  vitality  of  a  child,  are  to  be  artificially  produced, 
and  added  to  the  natural  disease  with  which  the  infant  is  al- 
ready contending ! 

But  it  must  be  observed  farther,  and,  were  it  not  familiarized 
to  us  by  the  universality  of  the  practice,  we  should  observe  it 
with  astonishment,  that  nothing  at  all  is  prescribed  calculated 
to  act,  or  intended  to  act  directly  upon  the  affected  part.  No 
remedy  whatever  is  given  which  has  any  natural  action  on  the 
windpipe,  the  only  organ  where  any  ailment  exists.  Such  is  the 
inherent  awkwardness,  and  such  is  the  sledge-hammer  violence 
of  the  usual  method  of  treating  diseases,  that  it  is,  for  the  most 
part,  only  the  healthy  parts  of  the  body  that  are  directly  af- 
fected by  the  remedies  prescribed.  On  one  occasion,  my 
relative,  the  late  William  Hey,  of  Leeds,  saw  a  lady  who 
was  suffering  from  an  ulcer  near  the  ankle,  and  he  prescribed 
an  issue  below  the  knee;  the  lady  involuntarily  exclaimed : 
"Then  I  shall  have  two  sores  instead  of  one !"  Such  was  our 
best  treatment,  before  the  introduction  of  Homoeopathy. 

Let  us  return  to  our  suffering  little  baby,  with  the  new 
method  in  our  minds,  and  all  these  conflicting  indications  are 
suddenly  reduced  to  one;  to  find  a  drug  which  has  a  natural 
power  of  acting  upon  the  windpipe,  and  which  in  health  will 
produce  a  similar  morbid  condition  of  it.  \Ye  give  this  drug 
alone,  in  very  small  doses,  with  such  repetitions  as  may  be 
required,  and  the  complaint  yields,  the  symptoms  are  removed, 
and,  by  the  blessing  of  GOD,  the  child  is  restored  to  perfect 
health;  without  either  its  stomach  or  bowels,  its  skin  or  liver, 
or  any  healthy  organ  having  beeii  disturbed  or  interfered 
with;  that  which  was  ailing  has  been  cured,  and  that  which 
was  well  has  been  let  alone.  This  lias  happened  in  my  own 
hands,  and  I  am  bound  to  testify  what  1  have  seen. 


16  THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF   HOM(EOPATHT. 

It  would  be  easy  to  give  examples  of  more  complicated  cases, 
in  which  the  indications  under  the  common  method  axe  still 
more  numerous,  or  still  more  contradictory.  I  can  not  do 
more  than  allude  to  one  of  the  latter  description,  but  it  is  one 
in  which  the  contradiction  is  so  great  as  to  give  rise  to  the 
greatest  perplexity,  and  the  most  painful  anxiety.  The  case 
is  an  inflammatory  disease  of  any  kind  occurring  in  a  debili- 
tated constitution — a  combination  unhappily  often  met  with. 
In  this  case,  an  antiphlogistic  or  reducing  treatment  is  supposed 
to  be  called  for  by  the  inflammation,  and  tonic  or  strengthen- 
ing measures  are  imperiously  demanded  by  the  patient's  dis- 
tressing weakness.  In  the  treatment  of  such  a  case  bleeding 
and  brandy,  or  remedies  as  much  opposed  to  each  other  as 
these  are,  not  unfrequently  find  themselves  in  very  close  ap- 
proximation. 

On  the  contrary,  by  the  new  method,  although  a  careful  ex- 
amination of  the  case,  and  a  dilgent  study  of  the  Materia  Me- 
dica  are  required,  there  is  but  one  indication  to  be  attended  to, 
and  but  one  remedy  to  be  given,  and  thus  perplexity  and  incon- 
sistency are  banished. 

In  complicated  chronic  cases,  when  it  is  possible  to  discover 
the  original  or  leading  feature  of  the  ailment,  if  a  remedy  be 
selected  capable  of  meeting  this  primary  condition,  it  not  un- 
frequently happens  that  not  only  will  this  condition  be  greatly 
improved,  but  other  accompanying  s}7mptoms,  though  appear- 
ing to  have  little  connection  with  it,  will  be  also  removed. 
And  thus  a  single  remedy  will  sometimes  suit  a  patient  for  se- 
veral years,  and  relieve  very  various  ailments  during  that  time. 
This  I  have  experienced  in  my  own  person,  and  witnessed  in 
others. 

The  benefit  to  the  patient,  so  often  in  vain  longed  for  from  the 
complicated  prescriptions  in  common  use,  may  be  expected 
with  greatly  increased  confidence  from  the  employment  of  a 
single  remedy.  Dr.  Paris  speaks  of  medical  combinations, 
and  declares  that  their  object  is  to  operate  "  cito,  tuto,  etjucundev 
—quickly,  safely,  and  pleasantly — thus  quoting  the  language 
of  Asclepiades  as  applicable  to  them.  With  how  much 
greater  reason  such  language  can  be  applied  to  Homoeopathic 
treatment  the  foregoing  observation  may  suffice  to  show. 

Cito.  A  medicine  is  much  more  likely  to  produce  its  pecu- 
liar effects  quickly  when  given  alone,  than  when  its  action 
is  neutralized  or  interfered  with  by  being  mixed  with  other 
drugs. 

Tuto.  The  chances  that  a  patient  will  be  injured  by  a  small 
dose  of  a  single  remedy,  must  be  much  fewer  than  by  large 


THE   SINGLE  MEDICINE   OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  17 

doses  of  mixed  medicines.  He  must  be  treated  much  more 
safely. 

Jucunde.  And  as  to  tlie  comparative  pleasantness,  I  am 
willing  to  abide  by  the  patient's  decision. 

By  the  use  of  a  single  medicine  at  a  time,  every  injury  is 
avoided,  and  every  benefit  is  obtained,  to  the  utmost  of  medi- 
cal skill. 

Such  are  some  of  the  advantages  which  the  law  of  Homoeo- 
pathy presents  for  our  acceptance,  in  the  simplicity  of  its  mode 
of  prescribing  remedies  for  disease. 

There  is  another  consideration  of  a  profound  and  interesting 
character,  to  which  I  wish  now  to  address  myself,  and  to  the 
investigation  of  which  I  earnestly  hope  my  professional  breth- 
ren will  give  their  serious  attention. 

The  subject  presents  itself  in  the  terms  by  which  the 
various  articles  of  the  Materia  Medica  are  arranged  and  desig- 
nated. It  is  expressed  in  one  word — the  intention  of  the 
treatment 

In  the  system  of  GrALEN,  which  governed  medicine  for  fif- 
teen hundred  years,  all  drugs  were  estimated  as  hot  or  cold, 
dry  or  moist,  in  regulated  degrees,  and  were  prescribed  accord- 
ingly for  diseases  which  were  supposed  to  correspond  to  them 
by  contraries ;  as  a  hot  remedy  for  a  cold  disease,  and  a  dry  one 
for  a  moist.  At  present  they  are  called  emetics,  cathartics, 
diaphoretics,  narcotics,  and  so  forth.  These  terms  indicate  the 
very  essence  of  the  usual  practice ;  the  light  in  which  all  re- 
medies are  viewed ;  the  intention  with  which  they  are  given. 

Thus  it  appears  that  drugs  are  not  considered  as  they  are  in 
themselves,  but  as  they  belong  to  one  or  other  of  these  modes 
of  action.  When  a  patient  is  seen,  the  mental  inquiry  is, 
What  are  the  indications  which  his  ailments  suggest  ?  Ought 
he  to  be  vomited  or  purged,  or  refrigerated  or  stimulated  ? 
The  answer  to  these  questions  is  supposed  to  direct  to  the 
classes  of  medicines  which  are  to  be  administered,  and  they  are 
given  with  corresponding  intentions.  In  prescribing  ipecacu- 
anha, or  tartar  emetic,  the  physician  intends  to  produce  vomit- 
ing; in  giving  blue  pill  and  colocynth,  followed  by  senna  and 
Epsom  salts,  he  intends  to  purge ;  in  applying  plaster  of  can- 
tharides  to  the  surface  of  the  body,  he  intends  to  produce  in- 
flammation and  blistering  of  the  previously  healthy  skin. 

Far  otherwise  are  the  thoughts  suggested  by  the  law  of  Ho- 
moeopathy. The  patient  is  suffering  in  such  a  manner;  the 
question  suggested,  when  the  examination  of  the  case  is  con- 
cluded, is  this :  What  drug  produces  in  health  a  similar  condi- 

NO.  XI. — 2 


18  THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

tion  of  disease  ?  That  drug  must  necessarily  act  upon  the 
organs  which  are  diseased ;  it  will  act  upon  them  while  under 
the  excitement  of  disease  in  a  very  small  dose — too  small  to 
act  upon  any  other  organs  which  it  has  a  natural  relation  to, 
but  which  are  still  in  a  healthy  condition  ;  by  the  use  of  this 
drug  the  disease  will  be  best  arrested,  the  health  will  be  best 
restored,  and  all  that  is  well  will  be  let  alone. 

Thus  the  immediate  object  proposed  by  the  Homoeopathic 
practitioner  is,  not  to  produce  vomiting,  or  purging,  or  perspi- 
ration, or  any  other  evacuation,  but  simply  to  remove  the  dis- 
ease from  which  the  patient  is  suffering.  Of  course  the  ulti- 
mate object  of  the  Allopathic  practitioner  is  to  restore  his  pa- 
tient to  health,  but  it  will  be  seen  that  that  object  is  aimed  at 
indirectly,  through  the  medium  of  other  prior  intentions ;  these 
intentions  being,  not  to  produce  health,  but  conditions  which 
are  themselves  more  or  less  departures  from  health.  The  sick 
man  is  to  be  cured  by  being  made  more  sick  ;  however  nume- 
rous his  symptoms  may  be  when  seen  by  his  physician,  he 
must  have  some  additional  ailments  produced  artificially,  be- 
fore he  can  expest  to  be  relieved.  This  important  difference 
between  the  two  intentions  must,  I  think,  be  intelligible  and 
plain. 

It  is  true  that  certain  effect?,  are  sometimes  produced  by  the 
small  dose  of  the  Homoeopathist  which  resemble,  in  some  de- 
gree, the  effects  of  the  common  medicines ;  for  instance,  when 
aconite  is  given  in  a  case  of  inflammatory  fever  with  a  dry 
skin  ;  at  the  moment  when  relief  is  experienced  by  the  removal 
of  the  fever,  there  may  be  perspiration ;  but  the  resemblance  is 
apparent  only ;  the  medicine  was  not  given  as  a  diaphoretic, 
with  the  intention  to  produce  perspiration,  neither  did  its  do- 
ing so  relieve  the  fever :  these  two  events  happened  in  the  op- 
posite order ;  the  fever  was  first  checked,  and  then,  through 
returning  health,  the  previously  dry  skin  became  moist.  In 
the  same  manner,  in  a  case  of  constipation  from  torpor  of  the 
bowels,  opium  is  given,  and  the  natural  action  is  by  and  by 
restored ;  not  because  opium  is  a  purgative,  for,  as  every  one 
knows,  it  is  classed  at  the  head  of  medicines  of  an  opposite 
character,  but  because  it  removed  the  torpor,  by  which  means 
nature  was  in  a  condition  to  proceed  as  in  a  healthy  state. 

The  contrast  of  the  two  methods  is  exhibited,  though  with 
some  confusion,  by  Dr.  Paris  himself,  in  the  following  para- 
graph : 

"  Dr.  Blackwell  presents  us  with  a  case,  on  the  authority 
of  Mr.  Johnson  of  Exeter,  in  which  well-fermented  bread  oc- 
casioned, in  the  space  of  a  few  hours,  an  effect  so  powerfully 


THE   SINGLE   MEDICINE   OF  IIOMCEOPATUY.  19 

diuretic  as  to  have  cured  the  sailors  on  board  the  Asia  East 
Indiaman,  who  had  been  attacked  with  dropsy  in  consequen  •<■ 
of  the  use  of  damaged  rice ;  so  that  diuretics  in  some  cases 
cure  by  evacuating,  while  in  others,  as  in  the  instance  above  cited, 
they  tvacuate  by  curing." 

Here,  then,  is  another  characteristic  difference  between  the 
two  systems  of  medical  treatment ;  the  usual  method  attempts 
to  cure  by  evacuating ;  the  new  mode  will  evacuate  if  there  be 
any  thing  requiring  evacuation,  by  first  curing. 

The  reason  now  appears  why  Homceopathists  do  not  call  the 
remedies  they  use  by  the  names  commonly  attached  to  them, 
as  cathartics,  sudoritics,  etc.  The  impropriety  would  be  as 
great  as  it  is  to  call  good,  wholesome,  "  well-fermented"  bread  a 
diuretic,  as  is  done  by  Dr.  Paris  in  the  paragraph  above  quoted. 
Such  an  appellation  is  a  libel  on  the  staff  of  life.  WhaJ;  the 
bread  did  was  just  what  the  unsound  rice  could  not  do — it 
nourished  the  body  ;  acting,  not  as  a  medicine,  but  as  whole- 
some food,  the  thing  needed.  The  evacuation  of  the  dropsical 
effusion  was  the  consequence  of  the  restored  health  and  strength 
of  the  different  organs  of  the  body.  What  the  Homoeopathic 
remedy,  given  alone,  does,  is  to  restore  the  diseased  organ,  if  it 
be  capable  of  restoration  to  health  ;  any  evacuations  which  may 
follow  being  the  consequence  of  that  restoration.  This  is  a  re- 
fined and  scientific  proceeding,  as  far  removed  as  possible  from 
the  rude  violence  of  large  doses  of  poisonous  drugs,  given  in 
combination,  and  "  lighting  together  in  the  dark." 

The  considerations  advanced  in  this  Essay  afford  conclusive 
'prima  facie  evidence  of  the  great  superiority  of  the  method  of 
giving  a  single  medicine  at  a  time.  The  only  question  which 
can  now  be  raised  is  a  question  of  fact:  Does  the  plan  succeed 
at  the  bedside  of  the  patient?  To  answer  this  inquiry,  I 
would  gladly  produce  cases  from  Allopathic  sources,  and  this 
for  a  double  reason;  no  disposition  could  be  felt  to  question 
the  authority ;  and  the  infmitessimal  dose,  which  does  not  form 
part  of  the  subject,  would  not  complicate  the  evidence.  But 
a  sufficient  number  of  such  cases  can  not  be  met  with,  BO  nearly 
universal  is  the  practice  of  combination,  A  few  reports, 
tered  through  the  journals,  maybe  found  of  ipecacuanha  hav- 
ing been  given  successfully  in  nsem  ;  of  copper  in  some 
spasmodic  affections,  as  chorea;  of  nux  vomica  in  spinal  dis- 
ease ;  of  creosote  in  derangements  of  the  stomach  ;  of  arsenic  in 
some  diseases  of  the  skin  ;  but  these 

"Apparent  rari  nantes  in  gurgito  vaato, 

V I  ROIL. 


20  THE   SINGLE   MEDICESTE   OF  HOMCEOPATHY. 

and  they  are  not  sufficient  to  prove  the  affirmative  to  the  an- 
swer. So  far  as  they  go,  they  support  the  statement  that  one 
remedy  at  a  time  is  sufficient  to  cure  ;  they  also  constitute  evi- 
dence in  favor  of  the  law  of  Homoeopathy,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  examples  I  have  given  ;  they  may  at  least  be  consi- 
dered sufficient  to  lead  intelligent  observers  in  the  right 
direction. 

I  am  constrained,  therefore,  to  refer  to  the  numerous  works 
already  published  by  Homoeopathists,  and  which  contain  over- 
whelming evidence  to  prove  the  sufficiency  of  a  single  remedy. 

I  am  also  bound  to  give  my  own  personal  testimony  to  the 
same  effect.  For  example,  I  have  seen,  of  acute  cases,  conges- 
tion of  the  brain  removed  by  belladonna;  croup  cured  by 
aconite  ;  mumps  by  mercury ;  pneumonia  by  phosphorus  ;  and 
of  chronic  cases,  dyspepsia  removed  by  pulsatilla  ;  tabes  mes- 
enterica  by  sulphur ;  disease  of  the  bladder  by  nux  vomica  ; 
spinal  distortion  by  carbonate  of  lime,  and  so  on.  In  other  cases, 
a  single  remedy  is  sufficient  for  a  portion  of  the  treatment,  or 
for  the  symptoms  in  a  certain  stage,  or  during  a  certain  period 
of  the  disease,  to  be  followed  by  another  medicine,  also  given 
singly,  when  that  stage  has  passed  away,  or  when  the  symp- 
toms are  changed. 

The  experiment  is  not  insuperably  difficult ;  let  others  try 
it  as  I  have  done.  To  my  own  mind,  to  say  that  one  medi- 
cine at  a  time  is  practically  sufficient,  and  answers  better  than 
any  combination,  is  to  state  a  plain  fact,  and  I  can  not  conclude 
otherwise  than  by  expressing  an  earnest  hope  that  the  method 
will,  ere  long,  be  universally  adopted.  We  shall  not,  till  then, 
be  able  to  carry  out  the  good  advice  given  us  of  old  by  St. 
Basil  •   "  The  physician  should  attach  the  disease  and  not  the  pa* 


Hjgiiy,  Oct  2d,  1854. 


tracts  on  gomcroptjg.-lto.  12. 


THE   COMMON-SENSE 


OP 


HOKEOPATHY, 


BY    WILLIAM    SHARP,    M.D.,    F.R.S. 


fmtjj   GBbition. 


F.    E.    BOERICKE: 

HAHNEMANN    PUBLISHING    HOUSE, 
PHILADELPHIA. 


"  For  myself,  I  here  publicly  profess,  that  I  will,  to  the  end  of  my  clays,  ao 
knowledge  it  as  the  greatest  obligation  that  any  person  can  confer  upon  me,  if 
in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  ho  will  point  out  to  me  any  error  or  enthusiastical  d6 
hsion  into  which  I  have  fallen,  and  by  sufficient  arguments  convince  me  of  it.'; 

Thomas  Scott. 


THE  COMMON-SENSE  OF  HOMEOPATHY. 


"The  GOD  of  truth,  and  all  who  know  me,  will  bear  testimony  that,  from  my 
whole  soul,  I  despise  deceit,  as  I  do  all  silly  claims  to  superior  wisdom  and  in- 
fallibility, which  so  many  writers,  by  a  thousand  artilices,  endeavor  to  make  their 
readers  imagine  they  possess."  Lavater. 


Ox  coming  down  to  breakfast  one  morning,  soon  aft  er  the 
commencement  of  my  experimental  investigation  of  Homoeo- 
pathy, one  of  my  daughters,  a  child  about  seven  years  old, 
complained  of  feeling  sick,  and  laid  herself  down  upon  the  sofa. 
I  gave  her  some  globules  of  ipecacuanha.  We  sat  do  vvn  to 
breakfast,  leaving  her  chair  empty.  Before  the  repast  was 
over  the  child  appeared  on  her  seat,  and  her  mamma  handed 
her  some  breakfast  without  remark.  She  ate  with  evident 
enjoyment,  and  having  finished  she  said,  "  I  feel  quite  well." 
Her  mamma  asked  her  what  she  thought  had  done  her  good. 
Her  reply  was  this :  "  If  I  thought  that  such  medicine  could  do 
me  good,  I  should  think  it  was  the  medicine,  but  I  suppose  it 
was  the  breakfast,'1  having  forgotten  that  before  she  had  taken 
the  medicine  she  was  not  able  to  take  the  breakfast. 

Here  we  have  the  grand  impediment  to  the  reception  of 
Homoeopathy.  It  is  in  vain  to  explain  clearly  what  the  state- 
ment professes  to  be,  or  to  contend  earnestly  that  the  facts 
stated  are  true,  so  long  as  there  is  a  previous  obstacle  to  be  re 
moved,  namely,  a  persuasion  that  the  statement  asserts  what  is 
impossible. 

In  this  question  of  impossibility  the  principle  of  Homoeo- 
pathy— "likes  are  to  be  treated  with  likes;"  a  remedy  is  to  be 
given,  which,  as  a  poison,  produces  similar  symptoms — is  not 
included.  It  may  be  thought  imprt  >1  >al  >le,  but  it  can  not  be  set 
down  as  absurd.  Neither  is  the  small  dose,  within  certain 
limits,  exposed  to  the  same  charge.  That  the  tenth  or  the 
hundredth,  or  even  the  thousandth  part  of  a  grain  can  act  in 
disease  as  a  sufficient  remedy,  may,  like  the  principle,   be 


4  THE  COMMON-SENSE   OF  HOMCEOPATHY. 

thought  improbable,  but  can  hardly  be  thought  absurd  or  im- 
possible. The  doses  which  follow — the  millionth  and  the  bil- 
lionth of  a  grain,  or,  as  they  are  called,  the  third  and  the  sixth 
dilutions — are  separated  from  these  by  a  gulf,  to  bridge  over 
which  is  the  real  difficulty.  So  far  from  being  anxious  to  con- 
ceal this  I  wish  to  state  in  all  its  force,  and  to  meet  it  with  all 
fairness,  face  to  face. 

The  objection  is  founded  upon  the  supposition  that  the 
means  are  inadequate  to  produce  the  result.  The  infinitesimal 
dose  is  pronounced  to  be  a  non-entity,  it  can  not  remove  dis- 
ease.    Hence,  homoeopathic  cures  are  judged  impossible. 

Every  effect  must  have  a  cause  sufficient  to  produce  it.  Ti  i  is 
is  universally  admitted.  When  we  expect  to  cure  disease  by 
doses  of  medicine  so  small  as  to  be  inappreciable,  we  are  ac- 
cused of  looking  for  an  effect  without  a  cause,  and  to  do  this 
would  be  opposed  to  right  reason  and  common-sense.  "  The 
patient  is  certainly  better,  but  it  is  contrary  to  common-sense 
to  suppose  that  the  small  dose  can  have  done  him  good." 

My  purpose  in  the  present  Essay  is,  to  endeavor  to  remove 
this  great  obstacle  to  the  adoption  of  Homoeopathy. 

Now,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  objection  thus  raised  is  de- 
prived of  all  force  by  the  following  considerations : 

The  objection  is  merely  an  assertion.  It  is  couched  in  vari- 
ous terms,  such  as,  the  dose  is  a  non-entity,  and  can  do  nothing 
— ex  nihilo  nihil  fit — the  cause  is  inadequate  to  the  effect ;  the 
thing  is  contrary  to  common-sense. 

It  will  be  observed  these  statements  prove  nothing ;  they  are 
only  an  assertion,  or  expression  of  the  opinion  of  those  who 
make  them.  That  this  assertion  is  groundless,  devoid  of  proof, 
and  worthless,  appears  from  this  : 

It  is  made  in  ignorance.  What  do  those  who  make  it  know 
of  the  matter  ?  Nothing.  Where  are  their  experimental  in- 
vestigations ?  Nowhere.  What  time  and  pains  have  they 
bestowed  upon  the  inquiry  ?  None  at  all.  They  do  not  even 
profess  to  have  studied  the  subject ;  they  would  not  condescend 
to  study  it ;  they  have  too  much  sense.  Would  you  have  them 
study  quackery,  and  listen  to  "humbug?"  Alas!  we  are  all 
far  too  ignorant  of  the  operation  of  natural  causes,  and  the  pro- 
duction of  natural  effects,  to  be  justified  in  using  such  language 
as  this.     How  often  are  we  compelled  to  exclaim: 

"Causa  latet,  res  est  notissima." 
The  cause  is  hidden,  the  effect  most  plain. 

And  the  reason  of  our  ignorance  is  this,  we  know  nothing  of 


THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF  HOMEOPATHY.  5 

nature  except  what  our  bodily  senses  teach  us.  We  have  no  in- 
nate knowledge  of  the  works  of  GrOD.  We  enter  upon  life 
without  ideas  concerning  the  external  world.  Our  minds  are 
a  blank  as  it  respects  every  thing  in  the  ma1  rial  creation  around 
us.  But  we  are  endowed  with  bodily  senses  capable  of  receiv- 
ing impressions  from  external  objects,  and  with  mental  faculties 
capable  of  acknowledging  the  impressions  thus  produced. 

The  impressions  made  upon  the  bodily  senses  by  surround- 
ing substances  become  ideas  in  the  mind,  which  it  perceives, 
remembers,  and  reasons  upon,  comparing  one  with  another,  and 
observing  resemblances  and  differences ;  especially  the  mind  is 
engaged  in  remarking  the  influences  which  natural  substances 
exert  upon  each  other,  and  in  tracing  the  connection  of  these 
influences  as  cause  and  effect,  and  thus  the  bodies  and  their  ac- 
tions, which  together  make  up  the  natural  world,  gradually 
furnish  the  mind  with  a  large  variety  of  thoughts. 

Seeing,  then,  that  it  is  through  the  bodily  senses  of  sight, 
hearing,  smelling,  tasting,  and  touching  that  the  mind  obtains 
a  knowledge  of  matter  and  its  motions,  and  that  we  have  no 
other  means  of  adding  to  this  knowledge,  it  must  follow  that 
we  know  nothing  beyond  the  mere  surface  of  things  ;  of  the  inter- 
nal actions  of  bodies  upon  each  other  we  are  wholly  ignorant ; 
hence  we  are  not  in  a  condition  to  form  a  correct  opinion,  much 
less  to  pronounce  a  true  judgment  upon  any  substance  or  oper- 
ation in  nature  concerning  which  our  bodily  senses  have,  as 
yet,  taught  us  nothing. 

The  truth  of  these  propositions  is  evident  upon  reflection. 
In  what  department  of  nature  do  we  know  any  thing  beyond 
what  our  senses  teach  us  ?  What  should  we  know  about  the 
moon  if  we  had  never  seen  it?  What  do  those  know  of 
music  who  are  born  deaf  ?  or  those  of  colors  who  are  born 
blind?  We  have  an  instructive  lesson  which  sets  this  matter 
in  its  true  light,  in  the  answer  of  the  blind  man  who  was  asked 
this  question  :  "  What  is  scarlet  like?"  "  It  is  like  the  sound  oj 
a  trumprt"  was  the  ready  reply.  The  association  in  the  mind 
of  an  Englishman  of  the  soldier's  scarlet  coat  with  military 
music  is  obvious  enough,  but  the  inability  to  conceive  rightly 
(for  a  wrong  conception  was  quickly  formed)  without  the  aid 
of  the  bodily  sense,  is  not  less  obvious.  We  have  no  innate 
knowledge  of  the  objects  and  operations  of  the  natural  or  mate- 
rial world. 

Again,  the  ideas  of  nature  which  exist  in  men's  minds  have 
come  to  them  through  their  bodily  senses.  We  all  think  and 
reason  about  objects  we  have  seen,  sounds  we  have  heard, 
odors  we  have  smelled,  food  we  have  tasted,  and  bodies  we 


6  THE   COMMON-SENSE  OF  HOMEOPATHY. 

have  touched.     Our  bodily  senses  receive  impressions  which 
our  mental  faculties  acknowledge. 

Thus  we  gain  our  knowledge  of  nature  from  our  senses,  and 
from  no  other  source;  for,  though  there  is  in  men's  minds  an 
undefined  notion  that  the  powers  of  reason,  or  the  mental  sense 
can  discover  things  hidden  from  the  bodily  senses,  and  so  can 
gather  opinions  and  form  judgments  concerning  natural  sub- 
stances without  being  dependent  upon  or  indebted  to  the  eye 
or  the  ear ;  this  notion  is  an  error.  The  workings  of  the  mind 
may  indeed  produce  guesses  or  imaginings  respecting  external 
things,  but  how  can  they  perceive  the  reality  ?  Such  specula- 
tions can  not  be  more  than  dreams ;  such  labors  but  the  weav- 
ing of  a  fanciful  garment  wherewith  to  cover  our  ignorance. 
"  For  the  wit  and  mind  of  man,  if  it  work  upon  matter,  which 
is  the  contemplation  of  the  creatures  of  GOD,  worketh  accord- 
ing to  the  stuff,  and  is  limited  thereby  ;  but  if  it  work  upon  itself, 
as  the  spider  worketh  his  web,  then  it  is  endless,  and  brings 
forth  cob-webs  of  learning,  admirable  for  the  fineness  of  the 
thread  and  work,  but  of  no  substance  or  profit."* 

These  propositions  being  true,  the  conclusion  I  have  drawn 
from  them  is  true  also.  We  have  no  original  knowledge  of 
nature  ;  the  knowledge  we  acquire  is  obtained  through  our  bodi- 
ly senses ;  we  have  no  other  means  of  adding  to  this  knowledge; 
it  must  follow  that  we  can  not  know  any  thing  beyond  what  our 
bodily  senses  teach  us ;  that  Ave  are  not  in  a  condition  to  form 
correct  opinions  or  true  judgments  concerning  any  substance 
which  may  exist,  or  any  event  which  may  happen,  any  cause 
or  any  effect  of  which  we  have  not  been  informed  by  our  ex- 
ternal or  bodily  senses.  Hence  we  are  not  justified  in  pro- 
nouncing any  uninvestigated  phenomena  impossible,  or  any  unob- 
served facts  contrary  to  common-sense. 

The  assertion,  therefore,  that  the  action  of  the  small  dose  is 
contrary  to  common-sense,  is  nothing  more  than  the  cry  of  ig 
norance,  and,  as  such,  is  unworthy  of  attention. 

Similar  assertions  have  often  been  made  in  similar  ignorance. 
It  is  no  new  thing  for  novel  truth  to  be  met  by  the  same  ignor- 
ant cry  :  "  It  is  contrary  to  common-sense  !"  Take,  for  ex- 
ample, the  following  account  given  by  Professor  Baden  Pow- 
ell of  the  invention  of  the  telescope,  and  the  discovery  of  the 
moons  of  the  planet  Jupiter.  ' '  Galileo  having  sufficiently  im 
proved  upon  his  instrument,  now  began  sedulously  to  direct  it 

to  the  heavens Jupiter  formed  the  next  ol  ject 

of  examination,  and  no  sooner  was  the  telescope  pointed  to 

*  Lord  Bacon. 


THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   IIOMCEOrATIIY.  7 

that  planet  than  the  existence  of  the  satellites  was  detected., 
and  their  nature  soon  ascertained.  (February,  1610.)  These 
and  other  observations  were  described  by  Galileo  in  a  tracl 
entitled  'Nuncius  Sidereus,' which  excited  an  extraordinary 
sensation  the  moment  it  appeared.  Many  positively  denied  the 
possibility  of  such  discoveries  ;  others  hesitated  ;  all  were  struck 
with  astonishment.  Kepler  describes,  in  a  letter  to  Galileo, 
the  impression  made  on  him  by  the  announcement.  He  consi- 
dered it  totally  incredible ;  nevertheless,  his  respect  for  the  au- 
thority of  Galileo  was  so  great  that  it  set  his  brain  afloat  on 
an  ocean  of  conjectures  to  discover  how  such  a  result  could  be 
rendered  compatible  with  the  order  of  the  celestial  orbits  as 
determined  by  the  five  regular  solids.  Sizzi  argued  seriously  with 
Galileo  that  the  appearance  must  be  fallacious,  since  it  would  in- 
validate the  perfection  of  the  number  7,  which  applies  to  the 
planets  as  well  as  throughout  all  things  natural  and  divine. 
Moreover,  these  satellites  are  invisible  to  the  naked  eye;  therefore 
they  can  exercise  no  influence  on  the  earth  ;  therefore  they  are  use- 
less ;  therefore  they  do  not  exist. 

"  Others  took  a  more  decided  but  still  less  rational  mode  of 
meeting  the  difficulty.  The  principal  professor  of  philosophy 
at  Padua  (in  which  university  Galileo  was  also  a  profess.  >r) 
pertinaciously  refused  to  look  through  the  telescope.  Another 
pointedly  observed  that  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  Jupiter 
had  four  satellites  given  him  for  the  purpose  of  immortal- 
izing the  Medici,  (Galileo  having  called  them  the  Medicean 
stars.)  A  German,  named  Horky,  suggested  that  the  tele- 
scope, though  accurate  for  terrestrial  objects,  was  not  true  for 
the  sky.  I  le  published  a  treatise  discussing  the  four  new  plan*  rts 
as  they  were  called  ;  what  they  are?  why  they  are  ?  and  what 
they  are  like?  concluding  with  attributing  their  cdleged  existence 
to  Galileo's  thirst  of  gold."* 

I  might  give  many  other  examples  of  the  same  melancholy 
kind,  but  the  description  of  this  one  instance  by  Prof 
Powell  is  so  graphic,  and  touches  upon  so  many  points  in 
which  the  opponents  of  astronomical  discovery  resemble  the 
opponents  of  Homoeopathy,  that  further  illustration  is  needless. 
In  each  successive  age  the  discovery  of  new  truth  has  had  a 
similar  reception;  it  is  always  declared  to  be  impossible,  in- 
credible, and  contrary  to  common-sense. 

That  the  small  dose  should  be  thus  treated  is,  therefore,  only 
just  what  might  be  looked  for.  The  announcement  of  its  ef- 
ficacy is  startling,  but  not  more  so  than  that  made  by  Galileo 

*  Baden  Powell's  History  of  Natural  Philosophy. 


8  THE   COMMON-SENSE    OF  HOMCEOPATHY. 

■ — "  the  succession  of  day  and  night  is  occasioned  by  the  rota* 
tion  of  the  earth,  and  not  by  that  of  the  sun  and  stars" — an 
announcement  for  making  which  it  will  ever  be  remembered 
that  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  inquisition. 

How  much  does  the  statement  that  the  earth  moves  seem  to 
contradict  the  common-sense  and  common  observation  of  all 
men  !  It  is  true,  notwithstanding,  as  is  proved  by  careful  in- 
quiry ;  and  so  is  the  action  of  the  small  dose,  as  is  demonstrat- 
ed by  similar  careful  observation.  "  The  works  of  the  Creator 
in  every  department  of  observation  and  science  present  not 
only  mysteries,  but  a  world  of  wonders  ;  yet  the  reality  of  these 
wonderful  things,  mysterious  as  they  may  be,  is  not,  can  not 
be  denied."* 

It  is  an  assertion  made  in  indolence.  I  say  this  because  of  the 
facility  with  which  the  matter  in  question  may  be  tested,  and 
ignorance  respecting  it  be  removed. 

Every  medical  man  engaged  in  actual  practice,  has  opportu- 
nities of  putting  both  the  principle  and  the  dose  of  Homoeo- 
pathy upon  trial  every  day.  Let  any  practitioner  resolve,  as  I 
and  others  have  done,  to  look  at  the  question  with  his  own 
eyes,  and  he  can  immediately  do  so.  Let  him  begin  with 
those  drugs  with  whose  poisonous  action  he  is  already  well 
acquainted,  and,  in  fairness,  till  he  has  more  skill,  give  them 
in  the  lower  dilutions,  (the  first  and  second,)  and  afterwards, 
when  he  has  become  more  familar  with  their  use,  in  the  higher 
or  infinitesimal  ones. 

Such  indolence  as  leads  a  man  to  pronounce  an  off-hand 
sentence  of  condemnation  against  any  statement  largely  affect- 
ing the  interests  of  the  human  family,  because  it  is  novel  and 
startling,  admits  of  no  apology,  when  it  is  in  his  power  to  put 
the  statement  to  a  practical  test.  "  We  are  to  strive,"  says 
William  Harvey,  "  after  personal  experience,  not  to  rely  on 
the  experience  of  others,  without  which  indeed  no  one  can 
properly  become  a  student  of  any  branch  of  natural  science." 

Jt  is  a,n  assertion  made  in  folly.  I  should  have  shrunk  from 
using  such  a  strong  expression  as  this  had  not  the  wise  man 
said:  "He  that  answereth  a  matter  before  he  heareth it,  it  is 
folly  and  shame  unto  him." 

When  a  medical  man  tells  his  patient  that  Homoeopathy  is 
"  humbug,"  let  it  be  said  to  him  :  "As  you  express  yourself  so 
decidedly,  of  course  you  have  studied  the  subject  experimen- 
tally ;  may  I  ask  you  how  many  months  you  have  spent  in 

*  Scorcsby's  Zoistic  Magnetism. 


THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   HOMOEOPATHY.  9 

the  practical  investigation  ?"  A  child  in  such  a  situation  would 
have  red  cheeks ;  whether  an  adult  would  feel  ashamed  or  not 
I  can  not  tell ;  I  think  he  would  look  somewhat  awkward  and 
foolish. 

When  a  non-professional  person  gives  utterance  to  similar 
language,  let  him  be  told  that  it  is  unwise  to  condemn  without 
knowledge ;  that  when  he  comes  to  suffer  from  disease,  and  to 
experience  the  happy  results  of  the  new  treatment  in  his  own 
person,  his  opinion  will  be  altered. 

Such  a  change  has  just  been  expressed  to  me  in  the  follow- 
ing note : 

"  Thanks  to  you,  I  am  now  enabled  to  look  forward  to  spending  a  happy 
holiday,  and,  under  God's  blessing,  many  a  happy  and  useful  year,  in  the  en- 
joyment of  a  degree  of  health  both  for  my  wife  and  for  myself,  which,  a  few 
months  ago,  I  could  scarcely  have  believed  possible.  And  for  us,  and  our 
child,  if  disease  itself  has  not  lost  its  terrors,  at  least  we  can  look  without 
dread  and  misgiving  on  the  remedies  for  meeting  it." 

It  is  an  assertion  made  in  enmity.  The  question  is  not  viewed 
simply  with  reference  to  its  truth  or  falsehood.  It  is  an  "  ob- 
noxious" subject,  looked  upon  with  repugnance  and  contempt. 
There  is  no  desire  to  investigate  it,  but  on  the  contrary  a 
strong  determination  to  banish  it,  to  crush  it,  to  do  any  thing 
to  get  rid  of  it. 

And  yet  it  is  the  medicine  of  mercy  ;  it  proposes  to  emanci- 
pate the  suffering  invalid  from  every  disagreeable,  harsh,  and 
cruel  proceeding  to  which  he  has  been  so  long  exposed  :  it 
professes  to  be  able  to  cure  more  quickly,  safely,  and  plea- 
santly than  is  possible  by  any  other  means  ;  it  promises  to  the 
physician  himself  the  satisfaction  of  a  scientific  method,  in 
place  of  vague  experiments. 

But  it  is  an  "obnoxious  system,"  "false  and  bad,"  and  as 
such  it  is  hated  and  opposed,  and  that  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
prevent  the  majority  of  medical  men  from  testing  it  experi- 
mentally, even  with  a  view  of  proving  the  errors  which  they 
so  vehemently  assert  it  to  contain. 

And  what  shall  be  allowed  to  be  the  weight  of  an  assertion 
made  so  ignorantly,  so  indolently,  so  foolishly,  and  with  such 
hostile  feeling  ?  Is  it  of  force  to  dissipate  the  convictions  pro- 
duced in  the  mind  by  an  honest  trial  of  the  new  method,  and 
a  careful  observation  of  the  actual  results?  Can  they  be  re- 
linquished at  such  a  bidding?  That  would  indeed  be  op] 
to  reason  and  "  contrary  to  common-sense."  Did  I  not  speak 
truly  when  I  said :   "  This  assertion  is  groundless,  devoid  of 


10  THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

proof,  and  worthless  ?"  entertaining  enough  in  the  mouth  of  a 
child,  but  unbecoming  in  persons  who  have  attained  to  "years 
of  discretion." 

On  the  contrary : 

That  Homoeopathy  is  true — and  I  now  include  in  that  word 
the  principle,  the  moderately  small  close,  and  also  the  infinites- 
imal dose  —  is  substantiated  by  the  evidence  which  I  have 
brought  forward  in  these  Essays,  and  which  I  will  briefly  epi- 
tomise. 

It  is  a  statement  made  by  competent  witnesses.  I  have  observed, 
(in  Tract  No.  3,)  that  the  best  evidence  which  the  nature  of 
the  case  admits  ought  to  be  required,  and  when  obtained  it  has  a 
claim  to  be  received.  Hence  the  method  of  inquiry  must  be 
adapted  to  the  nature  of  the  truth  we  are  in  search  of. 

Now,  the  true  action  of  remedies  is  learned  partly  by  expe- 
riments upon  the  healthy,  and  partly  by  observation  at  the  bed- 
side of  the  sick  ;  therefore,  in  the  matter  we  are  at  present  dis- 
cussing, the  physician  can  be  the  only  competent  witness.  The 
question  arises :  "  What  is  the  kind  of  medical  evidence  which 
can  be  produced,  and  how  far  does  it  establish  a  credible 
testimony  ?"  For,  "  the  strength  and  validity  of  every  testimo- 
ny must  bear  proportion  with  the  authority  of  the  testifier ;  and 
the  authority  of  the  testifier  is  founded  upon  his  ability  and  in- 
tegrity— his  ability  in  the  knowledge  of  that  which  he  delivereth 
and  asserteth  ;  his  integrity  in  delivering  and  asserting  accord- 
ing to  his  knowledge."* 

m  The  medical  evidence  in  support  of  the  truth  of  Homoeopathy 
is  such  that  it  is  impossible  to  withhold  assent  to  this  testimony., 
if  the  number,  the  ability,  and  the  integrity  of  the  witnesses 
are  permitted  to  have  the  consideration  they  deserve. 

It  is  due  to  Hahnemann,  the  propounder  of  the  system,  to 
mention  him  first  and  alone,  and  to  remember  that  he  occupied 
a  place  in  the  best-qualified  circle  of  his  profession,  and  was 
acknowledged  by  many  of  his  most  distinguished  colleagues, 
as  one  of  the  most  accomplished  and  scientific  physicans  of  his 
age. 

Then,  as  regards  the  number  of  the  witnesses.  The  medical 
men  who  have  avowedly  embraced  Homoeopathy  are  now  to 
be  met  with  in  every  civilized  country  throughout  the  world. 
In  many  of  these  countries,  it  is  true,  they  form,  as  yet,  only  a 

*  Pearson. 


THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY.  11 

small  minority,  but  the  aggregate  number  must  constitute  a 
considerable  body.  In  this  country  there  are  at  present  nearly 
two  hundred.  In  the  United  States  of  America  there  are  al- 
ready two  Homoeopathic  Universities,  and  a  large  number  of 
legally  qualified  Homoeopathic  practitioners.* 

And  as  regards  ability,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  observe  that, 
for  the  most  part,  they  are  converts  from  the  ranks  of  regularly- 
educated  physicians  and  surgeons.  They  had  been  engaged 
for  a  longer  or  a  shorter  period  in  the  practice  of  their  profes- 
sion according  to  the  usual  methods,  and  it  may  be  fairly  presum- 
ed that  they  possess  at  least  an  average  amount  of  professional 
skill  and  experience.  In  support  of  this  opinion  it  may  be  re- 
marked that  among  them  there  are  nearly  thirty  professors  in 
various  European  Universities  ;  nearly  fifty  medical  and  court 
Counsellors,  and  at  least  twenty  Court  Physicians.  These  last 
are  attached  to  members  of  the  courts  of  Austria,  Prussia,  Eus- 
sia,  Spain,  Naples,  Belgium,  Hanover,  and  the  smaller  Ger- 
man states. 

And  lastly,  as  to  integrity,  Perhaps  the  best  mode  of  test- 
ing this  is  to  inquire  into  the  reasons  which  have  led  indivi- 
duals to  study  and  embrace  the  new  method.  Now,  some  of 
these  have  been  induced  to  investigate  the  subject,  because 
patients  whom  they  had  failed  to  benefit  by  the  best  resources 
of  Allopathy,  had  been  afterwards  cured  by  Homoeopathy. 
Among  these  is  Dr.  Chapman.  He  says:  "It  happened  that, 
during  my  absence  from  Liverpool,  some  of  my  patients  had 
been  induced  to  try  the  Homoeopathic  treatment.  Some  of  the 
cures  could  be  explained  away,  but  several  of  them  could  only 
be  honestly  accounted  for  by  admitting  the  full  efficacy  of  the 
treatment  that  had  been  pursued.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  men- 
tion one  of  these.  A  gentleman  had  been  subject  to  haemor- 
rhoids for  some  years,  and  the  loss  of  blood  was  sometimes 
fearful.  His  bowels  were  habitually  and  obstinately  constipat- 
ed, and  any  medicine  but  the  most  gentle  laxativ*  b  brought  on 
the  hemorrhoidal  flux.  Astringents  were  of  no  use  during 
the  discharge:  they  produced  mischief  when  taken  internally 
lie  had  been  under  the  care  of  several  eminent  men  in  London, 
and  had  tried  many  medical  nun  in  Liverpool.  His  condition 
was  made  rather  worse  than  better  by  th 

of  us  to  relieve  him..     His  lif  misery.     Two  or  three 

months  after  he  had  been  under  Homoeopathic  treatment,  1  met 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  Dr.  Atkin  lias  favored  mo  with  tin-  foil 
merit  of  Homoeopathic  practitioners,  from  his  forthcoming  Directory 
in  London,  63;   in  the  proviu  20]  ;  and  I  pwarde  of  3000  in  tin     Tuited 

States."    I  am  glad  to  find  th  il  1  have  Dot  been  guilt}  of  exaggeration 


12  THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   HOMOEOPATHY. 

him  one  day  in  the  street,  and  was  astonished  at  the  alteration 
in  his  appearance.  From  being  emaciated  he  had  grown  stont, 
and  was  altogether  in  excellent  condition.  I  asked  him  what 
he  had  been  doing,  and  thereupon  he  told  me  of  his  having 
swooned  away  in  London  from  the  loss  of  blood  ;  that  a  Ho 
moeopathic  physician  had  attended  him  ;  that  he  had  suffered 
no  loss  of  blood  since ;  that  his  bowels  were  regular,  and  that 
he  no  longer  suffered  any  inconvenience  from  the  trying,  and, 
in  his  case,  dangerous  complaint  he  had  suffered  from  a  dozen 
years  or  more.  This  and  several  other  concurrent  cases 
of  my  own  patients,  successfully  treated  by  this  method  at  the 
same  time,  induced  me  to  lay  aside  my  prejudice  against  the 
apparent  absurdity  of  the  doses,  so  far  as  to  test  by  actual  experi- 
ment their  efficacy  and  value.  I  was  immediately  convinced 
that  the  doses  wejp  efficacious,  and  conviction  of  the  truth  of 
the  doctrine  followed."  Many  "urged  their  eager  remonstran- 
ces, but  my  duty  was  plain  so  soon  as  I  became  convinced ; 
and  it  was  the  sincerity  of  my  conviction  which  gave  me  the  coit- 
rage  to  persevere  " 

Others  have  been  persuaded  to  examine  the  new  system  by 
the  representation  of  medical  friends  who  had  previously  be- 
come converts,  and  whom  they  respected  as  honest  and  con- 
scientious men.  Of  this  number  I  am  one ;  having  been  urged 
to  undertake  the  investigation  I  have  described  in  these  Essays 
by  my  friend  Dr.  Bams  both  am.  I  was  told  that  I  had  had 
ample  experience  of  the  usual  methods,  which  would  enable 
me  to  compare  the  new  one  with  them ;  that,  having  retired 
from  the  laborious  part  of  my  professional  duties,  I  had  leisure 
and  opportunity  ;  and,  in  short,  that  it  was  my  duty.  I  hesi- 
tated at  first,  but  it  had  been  laid  on  my  conscience,  and  after 
some  consideration,  I  determined  to  take  two  years  and  to 
give  it  a  full  investigation.  I  had  no  other  wish  than  to  dis- 
cover the  truth. 

Others,  again,  have  engaged  in  the  laborious  task  expressly 
for  the  purpose  of  proving  Homoeopathy  to  be  a  fallacy.  Dr.  H. 
Y.  Malan  is  one  of  these.  He  has  favored  me  with  the  fol- 
lowing account : 

"After  having  lived  ibr  some  years  in  the  house  of  a  Ho- 
moeopathic physician  in  Germany,  and  seen  his  practice,  and 
heard  him  speak  and  teach,  I  went  to  Paris  in  1840,  and  lo- 
cated myself  very  near  Hahnemann's  residence  ;  I  called  on 
him  almost  the  next  morning,  and  told  him  at  once  that  I  had 
come  to  him  with  the  desire  and  intention  to  study  and  know 
thoroughly  Homoeopathy,  in  order  to  write,  if  possible,  the  best 
book  against  it.     He  received  me  and  listened  to  me  most 


THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY.  13 


kindly,  and  immediately  put  me  in  the  way  of  best  studying, 
but  he  added,  with  his  usual  benevolent  smile,  '  You  never 
will  write  your  book.'  Most  generously  he  directed  my  stu- 
dies for  more  than  a  whole  year,  and  I  need  not  add  his  word 
was  true — I  never  wrote  the  book,  though  I  had  begun  it  and 
laid  materials  down  for  it,  before  seeing  Hahnemann. 

"  My  conversion  was  not  an  easy  one  ;  I  was  fresh  from  the 
Allopathic  benches,  and  flushed  with  the  victory  of  all  Allopa- 
thic honors.  In  adopting  Homoeopathy,  I  roused  the  whole 
1  Faculte'  of  my  native  city  (Geneva)  against  me,  and  caused  no 
small  uproar,  which  ended,  however,  with  what  is  the  truth  in 
medicine." 

The  number,  the  skill,  and  the  integrity  of  the  medical  wit- 
nesses to  the  truth  of  Homoeopathy  are  amply  sufficient  to 
make  the  statement  credible.  ~ 

It  is  a  statement  made  upon  sufficient  evidence.  If  the  wit- 
nesses are  competent,  so  is  their  evidence  complete.  What 
does  it  amount  to?  It  amounts  to  this,  that,  being  medical 
practitioners,  regularly  educated  and  duly  qualified,  and  hav- 
ing had  more  or  less  experience — this  experience,  in  some  cases, 
equalling  that  of  any  of  their  professional  colleagues — they 
have  tried  the  new  practice  experimentally,  with  every  pre- 
caution in  their  power  to  avoid  mistake ;  they  have,  in  this 
practical  manner,  been  persuaded  of  its  actual  and  positive 
superiority  over  their  former  methods,  and  they  have  had  the 
honesty  and  the  courage  to  avow  their  conviction  of  its  truth 
and  value.  It  amounts  to  this,  that  cases  of  every  description 
have  been  published  by  hundreds,  with  all  the  accuracy  and 
precision  of  diagnosis  and  treatment  with  which  the  professson 
is  familiar,  and  which,  in  accordance  with  the  progress  of  mo- 
dern science,  it  demands;  cases  of  the  most  acute  and  danger- 
ous character;  cases  of  the  most  familiar  and  well-known  dis- 
eases; cases  of  the  most  obstinate  and  refractory  chronic  ail- 
ments; cases  of  diseases  in  children,  in  adults,  in  old 
cases  in  public  hospitals,  and  in  private  practice  ;  cases  in  courts 
and  in  cottages  ;  cases  from  among  the  most  intelligent  and  the 
most  illiterate,  and  all  affording  evidence  of  superior  success  to 
that  which  has  yet  been  presented  in  similar  reports  of  any 
other  kind  of  treatment.  It  amounts  to  this,  that  if  the  evi- 
dence upon  which  the  truth  of  Homoeopathy  now  rests  be  not 
sufficient  to  establish  it,  then  nothing  can  be  established  as  true 
upon  any  evidence  whatever;  and  without  faith  in  hi  una 
timony  how  are  we  to  proceed  in  the  ordinary  a i lairs  of 
life?     "  There  is  no  science  taught  without  original  belief; 


14  THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   HOMOEOPATHY. 

there  are  no  letters  learned  without  preceding  faith.  There  is 
no  justice  executed,  no  commerce  maintained,  no  business  pro- 
secuted without  this;  all  secular  affairs  are  transacted,  all 
great  achievements  are  attempted,  all  hopes,  desires,  and  inclin- 
ations are  preserved  by  this  human  faith,  grounded  npon  the 
testimony  of  man."* 

The  question  is  a  question  of  evidence ;  the  evidence  is  suffi- 
cient ;  reason  and  common-sense  demand  our  assent. 

And  why  not  ?  Similar  statements  have  been  received  upon 
similar  evidence.  The  ground  on  which  I  advocate  the  recep- 
tion of  Homoeopathy  is  that  which  is  the  basis  of  all  Experi- 
mental Philosophy  ;  it  is  on  the  plea  of  observation  —  on  the 
testimony  of  our  senses.  Every  department  of  science  con- 
tains numerous  instances  in  which  the  most  unexpected  and 
important  results  arise  out  of  apparently  insignificant  and  in- 
adequate causes.     I  can  give  only  a  few  examples. 

In  Magnetism :  take  a  poker,  or  bar  of  iron,  not  previously 
magnetic,  hold  it  in  a  position  parallel  with  the  earth's  axis,  and 
strike  the  upper  or  northern  extremity  a  rather  smart  blow 
with  a  hammer — the  poker  or  bar  will  have  become  a  magnet ; 
it  will  now  attract  particles  of  iron,  and  it  will  attract  and  repel 
the  poles  of  other  magnets.  Now  hold  it  horizontally,  and  strike 
the  opposite  or  southern  end  a  similar  blow,  and  it  will  cease 
to  be  a  magnet — it  will  no  longer  attract  iron,  nor  attract  and 
repel  other  magnets.  What  striking  effects  from  such  a  simple 
action ! 

In  Chemistry:  every  experiment  is  an  illustration.  It  is 
impossible  to  anticipate  the  results  of  a  single  case  in  which 
elements  combine,  or  in  which  compounds  are  decomposed. 
The  effects  are  always  startling.  It  is  this  which  gives  to  lec- 
tures on  Chemistry  their  exciting  interest.  You  place  a  piece 
of  metal  (Potassium)  upon  a  lump  of  ice— it  bursts  into  flame, 
and  produces  a  solution  of  potash !  You  apply  an  electric 
spark  to  a  mixture  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  gases;  you  have, 
on  the  instant,  an  explosion  like  that  of  a  magazine  of  gun- 
powder, and  a  drop  of  water  results!  You  mix  colorless 
liquid  ingredients  and  obtain,  in  a  succession  of  instances,  solids 
having  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow ! 

^  In  Mechanics :  as  an  example  on  a  small  scale,  take  some 
biniodicle  of  mercury,  spread  it  upon  a  sheet  of  paper,  and  hold 
it  over  a  lamp ;  in  a  moment  or  two,  the  brilliant  red,  equal 
to  vermillion,  becomes  a  fine  yellow,  and  remains  so,  even  aftei 
it  has  been  allowed  to  cool ;  take  a  knife  or  spatula  and  pass  r* 

*  Pearson. 


THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   HOMCEOPATIIY.  15 

over  the  yellow  powder  with  a  little  pressure  and  friction,  and 
the  beautiful  vermillion  is  instantly  restored.  In  these  meta- 
morphoses there  is  no  chemical  change,  but  simply  a  difference 
in  the  mechanical  arrangement  of  the  particles  of  the  compound 
of  mercury  and  iodine. 

As  an  example  on  a  larger  scale,  look  at  a  railway  train,  and 
marvel  how  a  smooth  iron  wheel  passing  over  a  smooth  iron 
bar  can,  by  what  is  called  the  resistance  of  friction,  drag  after 
it  a  weight  of  many  tons  in  carriages  and  luggage. 

In  Botany:  the  grafting  of  fruit  trees  may  be  adduced  as  an 
example.  What  a  childish  proceeding  it  would  appear  when 
first  attempted,  and  how  unlikely  to  be  productive  of  important 
results  !  And  yet  the  evidence  of  facts  has  overcome  the  ap- 
porent  absurdity,  and  the  practice  is  universally  adopted. 

Moreover,  the  ground  upon  which  I  rest  the  claims  of 
Homoeopathy  is  the  ground  upon  which  all  the  common  affairs 
of  life  necessarily  rest.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  pre- 
vious notion  of  probability,  it  is  the  actual  fact  which  deter- 
mines the  point.  Just  now  all  are  noticing  the  sudden  changes 
in  the  weather.  We  go  to  bed  under  the  canopy  of  heaven 
glittering  with  stars,  and  there  is  a  hard  frost ;  we  expect  the 
roads  will  be  dry  and  clean  in  the  morning,  and  the  boys 
think  of  their  skates.  We  get  up,  and  find  only  clouds,  rain, 
and  dirt.  And  so  of  every  thing.  "  That  will  probably  hap- 
pen which  to  all  human  calculation  seems  the  most  unlvcdy. 

Hahnemann,  in  his  Organon,  keeps  in  the  back  ground  the 
practical  fact,  and  labors  to  establish  a  speculative  explanation 
of  it.  His  followers  do  not  agree  in  adopting  his  explanation, 
but,  so  far  as  I  am  acquainted  with  their  writings,  they  all  have 
some  hypothesis  of  their  own.  I  have  been  condemned,  for 
not  a:  cepting  any  of  these.  I  respectfully  decline  them  all, 
and  offer  no  explanation.  By  this  course,  Homoeopathy  is 
placed  upon  a  foundation  which  it  has  not  yet  fairly  occupied; 
and  henceforward  it  will  be  in  vain  for  its  opponents  to  attack 
it  as  they  have  hitherto  done.  I  present  it  as  afac^  support  d 
by  sufficient  evidence,  and  to  assail  it  as  Buch  will  be  found  a  task 
much  more  difficult  than  to  criticise  speculations  however  in- 
genious. 

The  question  is  thus  greatly  simplified,  and  reduced  to  one 
alternative.  Either  the  thing  is  true,  or  the  testimony  is  false. 
To  settle  this  point,  both  reasoning  and  assertion  are  alike  im- 
pertinent. The  testimony  has  a  claim  to  be  received,  the  thing 
is  true  "according  to  the  evidenc  -,"'  until  (acts— the  result  of 
trials  at  least  as  numerous,  on  the  testimony  of  witnesses  at 


16  THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

least  of  equal  ability  and  integrity — are  brought  forward  tc 
support  the  opposite  probability. 

It  is  a  statement  beyond  previous  experience,  but  not  opposed  tc 
reason,  or  contrary  to  common-sense.  I  will  not  attempt  a  defi 
nition  of  "  common-sense."  A  term  in  daily  use  must  often 
be  applied  indefinitely.  It  sometimes  signifies  merely  former 
knowledge,  or  previous  experience;  at  others,  it  implies  the 
highest  exercise  of  human  reason.  Now,  many  things  may  be 
beyond  common-sense,  in  the  first  meaning  I  have  given,  but 
not  contrary  to  it ;  and  many  things  may  be  above  common- 
sense,  in  the  last  signification,  but  not  opposed  to  it. 

Taking  common-sense  to  mean,  as  it  often  does,  previous  ex- 
perience, then  every  new  discovery  or  invention  is  beyond,  though 
not  contrary  to,  common-sense.  The  first  use  of  the  mariner's 
compass  would  be  quite  beyond  all  previous  knowledge,  and 
doubtless  was  ridiculed  as  contrary  to  reason ;  it  would  be  said 
of  it  that  though  true  upon  land,  it  was  false  upon  the  waters . 
With  the  first  use  of  every  thing,  it  has  been  as  we  have  seen 
it  was  in  the  case  of  the  telescope  and  the  satellites  of  Jupiter. 
And  so  with  the  small  dose.  It  had  never  occurred  to  any 
one  to  try  it  before.  It  was  new  to  experience ;  it  was  be- 
yond former  knowledge,  but  it  was  not  contrary  to  either. 
There  had  been  no  previous  experience ;  there  had  been  no 
knowledge  to  which  it  could  be  contrary.  The  experiment 
discovered  a  new  fact.  The  observation  of  the  new  fact  sim- 
ply became  knowledge  in  the  place  of  ignorance.  When  it 
was  said,  therefore,  that  "  the  patient  is  certainly  better,  but  it 
is  contrary  to  common-sense  to  suppose  that  the  small  dose 
can  have  done  him  good,"  it  meant  only  that  a  cure  by  the 
small  dose  was  beyond  that  person's  previous  experience ;  he 
had  not  known  such  a  fact  before ;  it  was  new  to  kirn,  but  he 
will  scarcely  presume  to  say,  on  reflection,  that  therefore  it 
could  not  be  true. 

The  statement  is  beyond  previous  experience,  but  before 
any  one  can  with  justice  say  it  is  contrary  to  common-sense,  he 
must  try  the  doses  sufficiently  to  gain  from  experience  the 
knowledge  that  they  do  no  good.  Those  who  have  hitherto 
used  this  language  have  not  tried  these  experiments.  It  has 
been  uttered  in  ignorance.  A  few  years  ago,  a  book  was  writ- 
ten to  prove  the  impossibility  of  steamships  navigating  the 
Atlantic ;  it  was  contrary  to  common-sense ;  the  answer  to 
which,  as  every  one  knows,  was  the  immediate  performance 
of  the  impossible  undertaking  ;  it  was  simply  beyond  previous 
experience  ;  the  experiment  had  never  before  been  made 
When  Mr.  Stephenson  had  invented  his  locomotive  engine 


THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF  HOMOEOPATHY.  17 

to  move  upon  smooth  iron  rails — having  discovered  that  the 
resistance  of  friction  would  be  sufficient  to  prevent  the  rota- 
tion without  progression  of  the  wheels — he  did  not  venture 
to  propose  a  speed  of  more  than  twelve  miles  an  hour,  and 
even  this  proposition  was  laughed  at  as  contrary  tc  common- 
sense  ;  had  he  said  forty  miles,  his  discovery  would  have  been 
sjouted,  and  railway  travelling  perhaps  a  tiling  yet  unknown. 

To  drag  forward  common-sense  in  this  manner,  as  opposed 
to  new  experiments  and  investigations  of  nature,  is  greatly  to 
dishonor  it.  Where  there  is  no  experience,  what  common-sense 
does,  in  such  a  case,  is  to  urge  inquiry,  and  to  dictate  a  suspen- 
sion of  judgment  until  inquiry  is  completed. 

Again,  taking  common-sense  in  its  other  signification,  as  the 
highest  human  reason,  the  new  fact  may  be  above  this  reason 
to  understand  or  explain,  but  it  can  not  be  contrary  to  reason 
if  it  exist,  nor  can  it  be  contrary  to  reason  for  us  to  believe  in 
its  existence,  if  that  is  proved  to  us  by  sufficient  evidence. 

I  have  observed  that  we  know  nothing  of  the  objects  in  na- 
ture beyond  their  surface;  the  knowledge  which  our  bodily 
senses  give  us  not  extending  beyond  that.  Even  if  our  intel- 
lectual vision  could  penetrate  below  the  surface,  and  show  us 
something  of  the  interior  mechanism,  our  circle  of  knowledge 
would  still  be  a  contracted  one.  Ad  nature  being  the  handi- 
work of  a  Being  infinite  in  wisdom  and  power,  it  must  of  ne- 
cessity be  beyond  the  grasp  of  a  finite  intelligence  like  the  hu- 
man mind.  But  the  internal  movements  of  the  particles  of 
all  bodies,  and  their  mode  of  acting  on  each  other,  are  not  with- 
in our  ken,  however  much  we  may  long  to  know  them.  Every 
thing,  therefore,  is  a  mystery,  and  it  is  the  attribute  of  the 
highest  reason  to  be  chiefly  employed  in  the  discovery  of  facts. 
We  are  surrounded  by  marvels  which  we  can  not  explain  : 
lest  I  should  be  tedious,  I  will  mention  only  three.  The  sun 
will  take  your  likeness  in  a  second  of  time ;  a  message  may  be 
sent  hundreds  of  miles  still  more  instantaneously ;  any  one 
may  breakfast  in  Eugby,  be  in  London  (82  miles)  in  two  hours, 
spend  six  hours  in  that  city,  and  be  home  to  dinner.  Now 
these  are  marvels  which  even  our  own  fathers  never  dreamed 
of;  had  we  talked  to  them  about  such  things,  they  would  have 
thought  us  insane,  and  yet  they  are  true.  It  is  not  the  Less  a 
fact  because  it  is  a  marvel,  that  the  sun  will  take  your  picture 
in  a  moment.  It  is  not  the  less  a  fact  because  it  is  a  marvel, 
that  a  message  may  be  sent  instantaneously  any  distance  by  a 
wire  of  metal.  It  is  not  the  less  a  fact  because  it  is  a  marv<  1, 
that  any  one  can  travel  forty  miles  an  hour.  And  if  we  have 
marvels  in  the  science  of  light,  why  may  we  not  have  a  marvel 

no.  xii. — 2 


18  THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

in  the  science  of  medicine  ?  If  a  marvel  in  electricity,  why  not 
in  medicine  ?  If  in  mechanics,  I  ask  again,  why  not  in  medi- 
cine ?  If  in  things  which  concern  inanimate  bodies,  why  not 
much  more  in  the  things  which  belong  to  living  beings  ? 

The  works  of  GrOD  are  for  ever  setting  our  reason  at  defi- 
ance. If  we  attempt  to  take  but  one  step  beyond  the  evidences 
of  our  bodily  senses,  except  to  draw  a  few  useful  inferences, 
with  a  view  to  make  some  practical  applications,  we  lose  our- 
selves at  once  in  conjecture.  "  Things  perceived  by  sense  are 
more  assured  and  manifest  than  matters  inferred  by  reason ;  in- 
asmuch as  the  latter  proceed  from  and  are  illustrated  by  the 
former."* 

It  results  from  these  remarks  that  if  a  statement  of  a  new 
marvel  bears  the  rigid  scrutiny  of  careful  observation,  com- 
mon-sense, or  reason  at  once  admits  its  truth ;  and  thus  the 
common-sense  of  Homoeopathy  lies,  where  the  common-sense 
of  every  thing  else  lies — in  the  truth  and  value  of  the  fact. 

It  is  a  statement  which  admits  of  ready  confirmation.  "Is 
there  any  thing  more  difficult  than  the  establishment  of  a  fact  ?" 
said  a  very  intelligent  neighbor  to  me  the  other  day.  My 
reply  is,  that  though  the  establishment  of  a  new  fact  may  be 
difficult,  it  is  not  impossible.  Any  fact  may  be  established  by 
evidence,  but  some  men  may  not  like  to  see  the  evidence. 
"Dissatisfaction  with  evidence  may  possibly  be   men's   own 

fault."f 

The  confirmation  of  the  fact  we  are  now  considering  is  open 
to  the  observation  of  any  medical  practitioner  every  day,  and 
that  without  reading  books  on  Homoeopathy.  He  knows  well 
that  ipecacuanha  causes  sickness ;  when  he  is  requested  to  pre- 
scribe for  a  child  who  is  suffering  from  sickness  and  vomiting 
from  a  disordered  stomach,  let  him  give  a  few  small  doses  of 
this  drug.  He  will  thus  at  once  test  both  the  principle  and  the 
dose  ;  and  unless  there  is  something  more  about  the  case  than 
I  have  supposed,  he  will  find  his  patient  very  quickly  cured. 
He  knows  that  mercury  acts  upon  the  salivary  glands ;  let  him 
give  it  in  a  case  of  mumps,  and  he  will  find  his  patient  recover 
more  rapidly  than  he  has  been  accustomed  to  observe.  He 
knows  that  corrosive  sublimate  produces  dysentery;  let  him 
give  this  substance  in  an  ordinary  case  of  dysentery,  and  the 
disease  will  most  probably  yield  more  speedily  than  if  he  had 
adopted  any  other  mode  of  treatment.  He  knows  that  white 
hellebore  is  a  most  powerful  purgative ;  let  him  give  it  in  a 
purging,  if  chilliness  be  an  accompanying  symptom,  and  he 

*  William  Harvey.  \  Butler. 


THE   COMMON-SENSE   OF   IIOMCEOPATHY.  19 

\ull  perhaps  be  surprised  at  the  beneficial  result.  He  knows 
that  arsenic  and  phosphorus  produce  inflammation  of  thi 
mach  and  bowels ;  let  him  have  courage  to  try  either  of  I 
poisons  and  he  will  probably  see  severe  sufferings  subside  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  small  dose.  He  knows  that  canth" 
act  upon  the  bladder,  and  readily  cause  strangury;  let  him 
give  them  in  a  similar  case,  and  Lis  patient  will  most  likely 
need  no  other  remedy.  He  knows  that  nux  vomica  acts  yery 
much  upon  the  spinal  marrow,  and  upon  the  organs  depend- 
ent upon  the  spinal  nerves,  and  those  of  the  great  s}rmpat lie- 
tic  ;  let  him  try  it  in  various  affections  of  these  organs  and  he 
will  often  succeed  in  curing  his  patient.  He  knows  that  lead 
often  causes  paralysis  of  the  extremities  ;  let  him  give  it  in  cases 
resembling  those  of  poisoning  by  lead,  but  which  have  arisen 
from  some  other  cause,  and  he  may  find  a  very  difficult  and 
troublesome  affection  considerably  relieved. 

If  the  practitioner  is  acquainted  with  the  literature  of  his  pro- 
fession, he  will  know  that  copper  and  stramonium  produce  mus- 
cular spasms  ;  ipecacuanha,  symptoms  resembling  asthma ;  coc- 
culus,  paroxysms  of  vertigo  with  nausea ;  antimony,  derange- 
ment of  the  stomach  and  chest;  sulphur  and  arsenic,  affections 
of  the  skin.  From  the  same  sources  he  will  know  the  injurious 
effects  of  other  substances,  when  acting  as  poisons  upon  per- 
sons previously  in  health. 

So  far  as  I  have  yet  learned,  every  medical  man  who  has 
thus  examined  the  subject,  with  candor  and  perseverance,  has 
seen  and  acknowledged  the  confirmation  in  his  own  hands  of 
the  truth  of  the  statement.  Nothing  remains  but  for  others 
to  pursue  a  similar  course ;  but,  if  men  will  not  look  through 
Galileo's  telescope,  it  is  not  surprising  if  they  do  not  see  Jupi- 
ter's moons. 

Before  bringing  these  Essays  to  a  conclusion,  I  can  not  pass 
over  one  topic  without  some  further  notice.  There  is  a  strong 
feeling  in  the  minds  of  professional  men  that  Homoeopathy  is 
only  a  species  of  quackery,  and  that  its  practitioners  are  no- 
thing better  than  charlatans.  Now  this  is  not  true.  I  am 
willing  to  grant  that  there  may  be  a  few  persons  practising 
Homoeopathy  whose  temperaments  are  somewhat  tinctured 
with  the  spirit  of  quackery,  as  there  are  in  the  ranks  of  our 
opponents,  but  there  are  many  wholly  free  from  it  ;  and.  as 
regards  Homoeopathy  itself,  it  is  as  far  removed  from  qi 
ery  as  light  is  from  darkness.  What  is  quackery? 
tension  to  some  sovereign  remedy,  to  be  purchased  of  such  a 
person.     The  exclusive  sale  of  this  nostrum,  the  composition 


20  THE   COMMMON-SENSE   OF   HOMCEOPATHY. 

of  which  is  carefully  concealed,  being  often  secured  to  the 
vender  by  Her  Majesty's  letters  patent;  or  it  is  "  fifty  thousand 
cures  without  medicine,"  by  some  article  of  diet,  sold  exclu- 
sively in  a  similar  manner.  What  is  there  in  Homoeopathy  at 
all  resembling  this  ?  Where  are  its  secrets  ?  its  nostrums  ?  its 
exclusive  sales  ?  Thay  are  not  found ;  and  the  person  who 
calls  Homoeopathy  quackery,  must  be  content  to  be  condemn- 
ed as  either  very  ignorant,  or  guilty  of  knowingly  uttering  un- 
truth. 

I  have  now  only  to  conclude.  In  laying  before  my  profes- 
sional brethren  the  results  of  an  independent  investigation  of 
Homoeopathy,  I  have  fulfilled  a  duty,  and  given  an  honest 
testimony ;  and  I  now  lay  it  on  the  conscience  of  every  prac- 
titioner, as  it  was  laid  upon  my  own,  to  investigate  the  matter 
for  himself.  "  I  therefore  whisper  in  your  ear,  friendly  reader, 
and  recommend  you  to  weigh  carefully  in  the  balance  of  exact 
experiment,  all  that  I  have  delivered  in  these  Exercises.  '  _  I 
would  not  that  you  gave  credit  to  aught  they  contain,  save  in 
so  far  as  you  find  it  confirmed  and  borne  out  by  the  unquestion- 
able testimony  of  your  own  senses."* 

While,  however,  I  thus  appeal  to  others,  to  examine  for  them- 
selves, and  while  I  reject  the  hypotheses  and  speculations  of 
Hahnemann,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  I  have  any  doubt 
remaining  in  my  own  mind,  either  of  the  truth  of  the  principle, 
or  of  the  efficacy  of  the  small  dose.  If  it  may  be  done  without 
presumption,  I  would  say  of  the  truth  of  these,  in  the  words 
of  John  Locke,  "Give  me  leave  to  say,  with  all  submission, 
that  I  think  it  may  be  proved,  and  I  think  I  have  done  it." 


"Rugby,  December  3 CM,  1854. 


*  "William  Harvey. 


ICTi  ink 


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